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The Indian Railways has incurred losses of more than Rs 10 crore during the last three days when farmers stopped trains from plying in the state, sources said. They were protesting against the government’s compensation amount offered after the whitefly pest destroyed much of their cotton crop.
Farmers are demanding Rs 40,000 per acre compensation for damage to cotton crops and Rs 4,500 and Rs 5,000 minimum support price (MSP) per quintal for the ‘1509’ and ‘1121’ varieties of basmati. They also wanted debts waived and an additional relief package of Rs 5 lakh to economically weaker families.
The source in the Railways department said several trains had to be cancelled due to the protests.
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“The Punjab government failed to inform us in time about such agitation,” said a senior officer at Divisional railway office in Ferozpur. The Railways has also issued appeals to the farmers, through newspapers, to not hold up trains, said a senior railway officer.
The Railways had asked the state government to implement the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1968, to stop protesters from disrupting rail traffic.
“We have written to the state government to take necessary steps to prevent agitation like ‘rail roko’,” said Neeraj Sharma, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) Norther Railway while talking to The Indian Express.
At least eight farmer unions are blocking rail traffic in various parts of the state.
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