Protesting farmers start 3-day rail roko across Punjab; 51 trains cancelled

Among their main demands are a Rs 50,000 crore flood relief package for flood victims in affected North Indian states, an MSP guarantee law, 300 days of employment under MGNREGA, and control of drug addiction, especially in Punjab.

According to Satnam Singh Pannu, president, KMSC, they are blocking trains at Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, and Batala railway stations in Gurdaspur, Jalandhar Cantonment in Jalandhar, Tarn Taran railway station in Tarn Taran, Sunam in Sangrur, Nabha in Patiala, Basti Tankwali and Mallanwala in Firozpur, Rampura in Bathinda, and Devidaspura in Amritsar.

From the 16 farmer unions from six states, their number has risen to 19, said Sarwan Singh Pandher, who is from the KMSC and is the convenor of the 19 farmers unions. Pandher was at Devidaspura of Amritsar railway station where farmers are squatting on the tracks until September 30.

Farmers from Haryana, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh are also marching towards Punjab to sit on tracks along with their counterparts in the state.

Suresh Koth, president, Kisan Mazdoor Union of Haryana, said, “We were to start the protest on August 22 in Chandigarh but much before that the Punjab Police arrested over 400 farm union leaders from Punjab and Haryana to prevent us from reaching Chandigarh. Not only this, one farmer Pritam Singh had also been crushed under the tyres of a tractor in the Longowal area of Sangrur district of Punjab when farmers were on their way to a toll plaza to protest”.

Koth was referring to the scuffle between protesting farmers and the police on August 21 in Longowal when Pritam Singh was killed. Koth said, “We are warning the Punjab government not to mess with us again, they need to remember that Punjab farmers are not alone but their Haryana brothers are with them”.

In Ferozepur, farmers from Rajasthan have extended support to the Punjab farmers. Jaswinder Singh Longowal, Bharti Kisan Union Ekta ( Azad), said, “So the struggle that started on August 21 is now moving forward in the form of rail roko, which is getting full support from the struggling organisations.”

“Most of our demands are related to the Central Government, hence the state government needs to put them forth to the Centre. However, it made efforts to prevent us from protesting in August. That’s why our farmer brother Pritam Singh died. I was also put behind bars and released after three days. We have launched our protest to press for our demands.”

KMSC’s Pandher said, “I was also put behind bars from August 21 to 23 by the Punjab government to prevent us from reaching Chandigarh on August 22. We can understand that there is a BJP government in Haryana, but the attack on the agitators by the Punjab government on August 21 had given the impression among the general public that Punjab’s AAP government is in favour of the Modi government”.

Pannu, president, KMSC, said, “The Bhagwant Mann government should avoid anti-people activities. Apart from the demands mentioned above, our other issues are the quashing of police cases lodged during the agitation against farm laws at Delhi borders and punishment for the Lakhimpur incident. We are also demanding that six times the price of the land should be given for the land to be acquired for roads under the Bharat Mala project across the country”.

Jang Singh Bhateri, Harpal Singh Sangha, Gurmail Singh Dharamkot, Kirpal Singh Chandigarh, Des Raj Moudgil from Himachal Pradesh, Tejveer Singh from Haryana, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and many others are protesting on different locations of railway tracks.