Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers block highways, rail tracks in Haryana on Bharat Bandh call

The 12-hour Bharat Bandh call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha in support of the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws, evoked a good response across the northern districts of Haryana, particularly in the smaller towns. Most of the markets, particularly vegetable mandis (wholesale markets) and roads wore a deserted look as farmers did not turn up to sell vegetables and vendors had to return empty-handed. “I had gone to buy vegetables at the sabzi mandi at Ladwa in Kurukshetra district, but it was closed this morning,” said Mukesh Kumar, a local resident. Highway traffic diverted to link roads With farmers blocking most roads connecting districts, traffic has been diverted on smaller link roads. Kurukshetra police diverted traffic on National Highway 44 at Shahbad and Pipli. Traffic on the Pehowa-Patiala and the Kaithal-Kurukshetra roads was also diverted via link roads. Jagdip Singh Aulakh, the local leader of BKU (Charuni), said the Karnal-Meerut, Karnal-Kaithal, Karnal-Yamunanagar and Karnal-Assandh roads have been blocked. Karnal superintendent of police Ganga Ram Punia said that arrangements have been made to deal with any untoward incident and police have been deputed at all link roads to avoid traffic jams. Bhartiya Kisan Union Haryana president Gurnam Singh Charuni thanked farmers for supporting the bandh call by blocking roads. In a video message, he urged activists to ensure the movement of emergency vehicles. “Don’t stop local vendors, emergency vehicles and supply of milk and essentials as this movement is against the government not the people,” he said. Rail passengers stranded at stations Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Karnal railway station as trains were stopped following reports that farmers have blocked tracks in Ambala. “Since the trains were not cancelled, we decided to head for the Vaishno Devi shrine as per our booking schedule, but now trains have been stopped at Karnal. The government should not have allowed the train to depart from Delhi itself due to the bandh call,” said a Delhi-based woman passenger, Lisa.

Hindustan Times

26-03-2021

Chandigarh