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Farmers call off ‘rail roko’ stir, to gherao BJP leaders’ houses
Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had been squatting on a rail track at the Shambhu railway station since April 17, demanding release of three farmers who had been arrested by Haryana Police during the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protests at the Shambu border.
Patiala
Farmers squatting on tracks at the Shambhu railway station for the past over one month on Monday announced to call off their stir and said they will ‘gherao’ the residences of BJP leaders in Punjab and Haryana to press for the release of three farmers arrested during the “Delhi Chalo” protest.
The protesting farmers said though the “rail roko” agitation has been called off, they will continue sit-in at the Shambhu barrier on the Punjab and Haryana border.
Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have been squatting on a rail track at the Shambhu railway station since April 17, demanding the release of three farmers who had been arrested by Haryana Police during the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protests at the Shambu border.
The SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM are also spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march by farmers to press the central government over their demands on a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, among other demands.
Three farmers -- Navdeep Jalbera, Gurkirat Shahpur and Anish Khatkar --- were arrested by the Haryana Police during the “Delhi chalo” stir. While Navdeep and Gurkirat were arrested on February 28 near the Mohali international airport, Anish Khatkar was nabbed on March 19 for murder bid.
Farm union leaders said they called off the “rail roko” protest as it was causing inconvenience to commuters and nearly 100 trains were being affected every day.
Senior divisional commercial manager, Ambala railway division, Naveen Kumar said a total of 2,210 trains, including express and mail trains, were cancelled and 2,227 were diverted to alternative routes during the month-long protest.
Traders in Punjab and Haryana were facing losses due to a poor supply of goods due to the protest. Besides, the coal supply to Punjab’s power thermal plants was also affected.
Kumar said the agitation that started on April 17 ended on Monday and the tracks were cleared at 4.25pm. “Following this, the track, signal and overhead equipment on the section between Ambala-Shambhu and Shambu-Rajpura was checked. All were declared fit at 4.35pm. After the rail operations were resumed, the Akhal Takht Express passed through the route,” he said.
Convener of the SKM (Non-Political)
Jagjeet Singh Dallewal said: “We have decided to call off the rail blockade in public interest. But we will gherao residences of prominent BJP leaders in Punjab and Haryana in coming days to press for the release of the three farmers.”
He said the farmer leaders would again hold conferences at Shambhu and Khanauri borders on May 22 --- on the completion of 100 days of the “Delhi chalo” stir --- to decide the next course of action.
“As BJP’s bigwigs are about to hold political rallies in Punjab, we have to focus on opposing them. This was also one of the reasons for calling off the rail blockade. We will make big announcements relating to the next course of action on May 22,” said Dallewal.
(Inputs from HTC Karnal)
