Farmers Movement Archive

Rail Roko: Many stranded, traffic hit as farmers block tracks for six hours

The countrywide call to block rail traffic for six hours by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) against the Lakhimpur Kheri violence evoked strong response in several parts of Haryana, Punjab, parts of Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh. The SKM, a collective of farmer organisations protesting farm reforms, had called for the Rail Roko protest on October 18 to demand the resignation of junior home minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, whose son Ashish Mishra has been booked for murder for his alleged involvement in the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in which eight people, including four farmers and a journalist, were killed earlier this month.Since Indian Railways did not issue any advisory to suspend or divert trains, many passengers were stranded from 10am to 4pm.In Punjab, rail traffic was blocked at several locations in Bathinda, Amritsar and Ludhiana. SKM activists said they staged protests at more than 100 places in Punjab and brought the rail traffic to a standstill.Farmers squatted on railway tracks at several locations in Karnal, Kurukshetra and Panipat districts in Haryana, but served food and water to stranded passengers, officials said. “I had to go to Delhi but there are no trains since morning. Now I am left with no option but to wait here till the movement of trains is restored,” said one Shruti Kumarat Karnal railway station. “The call was given a week ago and commuters should have avoided travelling,” said Jagdip Singh Aulakh, Karnal district president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni), a constituent of SKM. In western Uttar Pradesh, farmers squatted on rail tracks and staged sit-ins on railway platforms at several places. The protests impacted movement of over a dozen long-distance trains at Meerut, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur and Bijnor, railway officials said. Blocking the movement of trains on the Lucknow-Bijnor-Najibabad route at Maujpur railway junction near Najibabad, BKU youth wing’s former state president Digamber Singh said: “The blockade affected the plying of the Chandigarh Express and other trains.”Police including Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed at railway stations and tracks. “No confrontation occurred anywhere and the protest remained peaceful,” said Rajeev Sabbharwal, additional director general of police (Meerut zone). The SKM had exempted Lakhimpur Kheri district from the strike call. “Owing to the already tense situation in Lakhimpur Kheri and also inclement weather hitting paddy farmers here, SKM leaders had called off the rail roko agitation in the district,” said Amandeep Singh Sandhu, district president, BKU (Tikait). In Uttarakhand, trains were stopped in Rudrapur, Kashipur and Khatima areas of Udham Singh Nagar district. “Halting trains is against railway laws. The railway police force will definitely file a case against the protesters,” said KD Kapri, station superintendent of Khatima railway station. There was negligible impact of the railway blockade call elsewhere in the country, with sporadic protests reported from West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Rail movement was normal in these states, railway officials said.

Hindustan Times

18-10-2021

India