Protesters take over railway tracks at Patli station; impact minimal, say police

The police had deployed around 150 personnel in the area to ensure that no damage is caused to the government property and no violence took place.

Farmers protesting against the three central farm laws held a four-hour rail roko agitation on Thursday from noon to 4pm at Patli in Farrukhnagar, to pressurise the central government to repeal the laws.

More than 100 protesters, including women, sat on the railway tracks and raised slogans against the government and the farm laws. (ANI)

More than 100 protesters, including women, sat on the railway tracks and raised slogans against the government and the farm laws. Women recited poems for an hour to engage the gathering. A passenger train that was scheduled on the route, from Delhi to Rewari, on Thursday afternoon was also cancelled, said officials.

The police had deployed around 150 personnel in the area to ensure that no damage is caused to the government property and no violence took place.

Members of Gurugram Samyukta Kisan Morcha (GSKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions that is spearheading the protests, had blocked the railway tracks at Patli station. “We had reached the railway station by 11.30am, but the police did not let us enter the main tracks, following which three trains crossed the tracks. We managed to block the lines by 3.30pm and no trains crossed the stretch,” said Abhay Poonia, one of the members of GSKM.

Another protester, Santok Singh, of Jharsa, said that they had blocked the yard of an inland container depot company in Patli. “We did not let the goods train carrying containers pass the stretch in the four hours and three of the trains were parked until 4pm. We did a silent protest and did not damage any of the property and cleaned the area before leaving at 4pm,” he said.

The police, however, maintained that there was hardly any impact on railway services due to the protest.

Hitesh Yadav, the assistant commissioner of police (Manesar), said that the agitation passed off without any untoward incident. Except for one goods train, all other trains crossed the stretch as per the schedule, said Yadav.

“We had deployed 150 police personnel at the protest site and it was peaceful. No trains crossed between 12.30pm and 4pm and the train operations were smooth throughout the day. There is hardly any train stoppage on this station except for goods and passenger trains which are connected from Rewari and Delhi,” he said.