Farmers protesting against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws have gathered at railway stations across the country and blocked train tracks as part of a four-hour nationwide ‘rail roko’ protest, in an attempt to pressurise the government to repeal the new agriculture laws.
The Railways deployed 20 additional companies of RPSF troops across the country ahead of the protest, PTI reported.
“We appeal to everyone to maintain peace calling for peaceful protests so as not to inconvenience passengers,” a railway ministry spokesperson said.
As farmers prep for the blockade, director general, Railway Protection Force, Arun Kumar said, “I appeal to everyone to maintain peace. We will be liaisoning with district administrations and will have a control room in place,” according to news agency PTI.
“We will gather intelligence. States such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and some other areas will be our focus” he said, adding that they want to persuade the protesting farmers to not cause inconvenience to passengers.
According to a senior police officer, the trains scheduled to arrive at Narela were stopped by the protesting farmers in Haryana’s Sonepat.
“Jhelum Express passed the station in the morning, and no train arrived after that,” the police officer said.
The Utkal Express running from Puri in Odisha to Haridwar in Uttarakhand has been stopped at Ghaziabad station, as farmers are sitting on the track at nearby Modinagar, according to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha.
