As many as 18 trains in the Firozpur division were disrupted on Thursday as members of various farmers’ bodies squatted on train tracks as part of the three-day ‘Rail-Roko’ agitation.
Several farmer organizations, led by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, have begun a three-day ‘train blockade’ with several demands, including a cash package for flood-related losses, a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP), and debt forgiveness.
A railway official of the Firozpur (FZR) division said that the services of as many as 18 trains have been hit till now on the first day of the rail blockade agitation. “Of those, 12 trains, which set off from and arrive here have been cancelled and the remaining, long route trains, have been diverted,” he said.
One of the protestors, Dilbag Singh, stated that the call for the three-day agitation was issued a month ago and that the government should provide an urgent response to their demands.
“This (Rail Roko protest) which is going on, was called a month earlier. We want the government to hold talks and provide solutions to our demands,” he said. The protesting farmers are also calling for punishment against Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, who is the key accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, which killed four farmers in 2021.
Earlier in the day, at the Amritsar protest, Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said, “If anyone tries to be unfair to Punjab farmers, farmers from Haryana will also join Punjab farmers.” Farmers across the country are united.”