Farmers Movement Archive

Punjab farmers' protest: Railway to refund ₹53 lakh to over 12,000 passengers

The Ferozepur railway division in Punjab has announced it will refund money to all the passengers who couldn't undertake travel due to farmers' protest from August 20-23.There are such 12,300 passengers, and the amount that will be refunded is ₹53.65 lakh, the official spokesperson of the Ferozepur railway division said.Farmers seeking a hike in sugarcane prices blocked rail tracks and a national highway in Punjab over the weekend, affecting trains and vehicular traffic.According to railway officials, a total of 89 trains were cancelled because of the protest. Those travelling for the festival of Raksha Bandhan bore the brunt of the blockade.Scores of farmers on Friday launched the agitation for an indefinite period to press the Punjab government to accept their demands related to pending dues of sugarcane and hike in cane prices.Farmers sitting on the Jalandhar-Chaheru section blocked the Ludhiana-Amritsar and the Ludhiana-Jammu rail tracks in Jalandhar, affecting several trains, including the Amritsar-New Delhi Swarna Shatabdi EXP SPL (02030), Amritsar-Dehradun EXP SPL (04664), New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi SPL (02013), and the New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Shri Shakti SPL (02461).Protesting farmers demanded that the Punjab government raise the state advisory price (SAP) for sugarcae and clear payment of arrears to the tune of ₹200-250 crore.They have already rejected the hike of ₹15 per quintal announced by the Punjab government a few days back. Another meeting was held between the protesters and the Punjab government on Sunday, which remained inconclusive.The state government had revised sugarcane rates to ₹325 for the early variety, ₹315 for mid variety and ₹310 per quintal for the late maturing variety.

Hindustan Times

23-08-2021

India