Agitating farmers call off dharna at Jandiala Guru village on Amritsar-Delhi rail link after 30 hours

The ‘rail roko’ agitation launched by the farmers on Monday against slow wheat procurement process left 177 passengers, who had come from Pakistan, stranded at the Attari railway station.

Agitating farmers called off their dharna at Jandiala Guru village on Amritsar-Delhi rail link after 30 hours on Tuesday night.

HT Image

Meanwhile, the ‘rail roko’ agitation launched by the farmers on Monday against slow wheat procurement process had left 177 passengers, who had come from Pakistan, stranded at the Attari railway station.

The Samjhauta Express that started from Pakistan on Monday afternoon reached India’s Attari station in a matter of minutes but could not go any further due to the blockade. The 177 Delhi-bound passengers have no choice than to wait on the station.

Not only were the passengers forced to sleep in the train, they were not being allowed to leave the station.

Having no clue to when their journey will resume, station authorities serving them tea and food on Tuesday came as a relief.

Narrating her woes, Mumbai resident Zaida Sheikh said, “I had gone to Peshawar in Pakistan to meet my relatives. I boarded the train on Monday afternoon and reached here by 1.10 pm. But we are still stuck here and have no intimation that when the train route will be clear.”

Hemant Das, who hails from Sindh in Pakistan and was going to attend a marriage in Jodhpur, said, “I along with my family had come especially to attend a marriage but due to this problem in rail route, we are stuck in Attari. This wait seems endless.”

One of the passengers also fell ill at the Attari railway station and the authorities rushed him for treatment.

Amritsar station witnesses chaos, train traffic disrupted

As the deadlock between the farmers and the Punjab government continued after over 24 hours of blockade on the Amritsar-Delhi rail track, thousands of passengers had to face the heat at the Amritsar Railway station.

Many who reached Amritsar station in the morning to board the Delhi bound Shatabdi Express at 5 am were shocked to learn that train was not available.
Passengers had no choice other than to wait and were seen sleeping on the platform and the roads outside.

The train traffic was disrupted in a big way as many trains were diverted while many could not reach Amritsar.

A Railway official told HT that Delhi bound Shatabdi Express was terminated at Ludhiana and could not reach Amritsar.

Whereas various trains including Flying Mail, Sachkhand Express, Amarpali and Deluxe were diverted through Tarn Taran link, he added.