Farmers Movement Archive

Rail roko: North Western Railway cancels 20 trains, 10,000 passengers hit

JAIPUR: Twenty trains were cancelled on Monday in North Western Railway (NWR) division while 23 were partially cancelled due to the ‘Rail Roko’ agitation by farmers. All these trains were those going towards Haryana, Punjab and the states where the farmers have occupied the railway tracks. Approximately 10,000 passengers were affected. The cancellation is likely to go up till the time the farmers stay on the tracks due to the stir. The rail traffic was affected on Bhiwani-Rewari, Sirsa-Rewari, Loharu-Hisar, Suratgarh-Bathinda, Sirsa-Bathinda, Hanumangarh-Bathinda, Rohtak-Bhiwani, Rewari-Sadulpur, Hisar-Bathinda, Hanumangarh-Sadulpur and Sri Ganganagar-Rewari routes. The agitation was staged by farmers’ unions to protest against the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. No damage to public property on NWR routes was reported. Railway officials have also appealed to the passengers to check the status of the trains before going to the stations. Just 20 days back, the farmers had occupied the tracks over another agitation due to which 22 trains had been cancelled and passengers had to be refunded money. Farmers from different parts of the country, especially Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi borders since November last year, demanding the repeal of three contentious farm laws that they fear would do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations. The government, however, has been projecting the three laws as major agricultural reforms. Over 10 rounds of talks between the two parties have failed to break the deadlock.

The Times of India

2021-10-19

Jaipur