Protesting agri laws, farmers block rail tracks in several states, Rlys says minimal impact

The movement of around 200 trains across the country was affected on Thursday during the protest against the three farm laws. The time for which protesters stopped the trains ranged from two minutes to 90 minutes.

Sources said that movement of around 120 passenger trains and a similar number of goods trains were affected.

The Northern Railway zone, in which Punjab falls, saw protesters demonstrating on tracks especially in the railway divisions of Firozpur and Ambala and also in parts of Delhi. Train movement was also affected in Bihar and West Bengal. The Railways, however, maintained that the protests were peaceful and there was no incident of violence. Other zones where train services were affected are Northeast Frontier Railway (parts of North Bengal), East Coast Railway, East Central Railway and North Central Railway.

According to officials, even though protesters had given the call to stop trains noon onwards, disruptions started from 9 am. By the evening, however, trains on all routes were operating normally, Railways said.

“We have been getting reports of trains being stopped here and there in some parts of the country. But there was no major impact and no violence was reported anywhere,” Arun Kumar, Director General of Railway Protection Force, told The Indian Express.

“The rail roko agitation passed off without any untoward incident. There was negligible or minimal impact on running of the trains across the country. Train movement in all the zones is normal now,” said D J Narain, spokesperson for Ministry of Railways.

“Majority of the zones have reported not a single case of any stoppage of train by the agitators. Few trains were stopped in some areas of some zonal railways but now train operation is normal and trains are being operated smoothly,” he said.