Farmers blocked railway tracks as part of their state-wide ‘Rail Roko’ protest, on the outskirts of Amritsar on Wednesday to press the Center to accept their various demands, including legally binding MSP for crops. | Photo credit: PTI
Farmers and farm labor groups on Wednesday (Dec 18, 2024) blocked railway tracks as part of their ‘Rail Roko’ agitation at several places in Punjab in support of their long-pending demands and accused the Center of adopting an indifferent attitude towards them. demands.
Rail services in the state were affected after the protesters blocked the tracks for three hours. Farmers are demanding farm loan waiver along with legal guarantees and other demands to purchase their crops at the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Farmers’ groups under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and United Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) – the two umbrella bodies leading the farmers’ movement in Punjab – have been in Shambhu-Ambala and camp since February 13. Khanauri-Jind – Inter-state border between Haryana and Punjab, after being blocked from entering Haryana. These organizations called forThe train stopped‘ 12 pm to 3 pm
Farmers blocked railway tracks in Punjab, demanding legal MSP guarantee
Farmers blocked railway tracks at several places in Punjab on Wednesday as part of their three-hour ‘Rail Roko’ protest, pressuring the Center to accept their various demands, including legally binding minimum support prices for crops. United Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Magdar Morcha have called for ‘Rail Roko’. Sarwan Singh Pandher, leader of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, said that since 12 noon, farmers have been sitting on the railway track in many places and will continue till 3 pm. Protests were said to take place at Moga, Faridkot, Qadian and Batala in Gurdaspur; Phillaur in Jalandhar; Tanda, Dasuya and Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur; Makhu and Talwandi Bhai in Ferozepur; Sahnewal in Ludhiana; Shambhu in Patiala; Mohali; and Sunam and Lehra in Sangru. Farmers under the banner of the United Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border crossings between Punjab and Haryana after security forces stopped their march towards Delhi from February 13. For the past three weeks, Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has been on a hunger strike at the Khanuri border crossing in Punjab and Haryana, pressuring the Center to accept the demands of the agitating farmers, including a legal guarantee of MSP in crops. . | Video Credit: The Hindu
Sarwan Singh Pandher, coordinator of KMM, said that the protestors blocked the railway at around 50 places in Punjab. “In a democracy we have the right to have our agenda. The BJP-led government at the Center is not allowing our ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to go ahead by curtailing our constitutional right to freedom of expression and protest. The central government is determined to sell the country’s agriculture and public institutions to corporate houses,” he alleged.
“We have now called a Punjab bandh (bandh) on December 30 against the central government’s attitude. Emergency services will continue to operate,” he said.
Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal has been on hunger strike since November 26 in support of farmers’ demands. A group of 101 farmers made three attempts to resume their walk from Punjab to the national capital New Delhi on December 6, December 8 and December 14. However, amid elaborate security arrangements by the Haryana government with multi-tiered barricades, their march has come to a standstill.
published – December 18, 2024 at 10:54 am IST