3-day rail roko in Punjab: What are farmers demanding?

September 28, 2023

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Multiple farmers’ organisations started a three-day rail blockade from Thursday, marking their stance on various pressing demands like a financial package for losses caused by recent floods, legal guarantee for MSP and waiver of debt.

The ‘rail roko’ will take place at 12 places in Punjab including Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda, and Amritsar. (File)

Announced by Sarwan Singh Pandher,general secretary of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, this decision was unveiled following a pivotal gathering of representatives hailing from 19 distinct farmers’ groups, news agency PTI reported.

While the majority of the participating farmer bodies are from Punjab, the movement has garnered support from farmers’ outfits from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, among others.

Pandher told PTI that the farmers were demanding financial relief packages for flood-affected individuals across north India and a legally binding assurance for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) across all crop categories, as well as comprehensive debt waivers among other things.

The ‘rail roko’ will take place at 12 places in Punjab including Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda, and Amritsar.

Among the farmer bodies supporting the movement are — the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari), Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Azaad), Azaad Kisan Committee Doaba, Bharti Kisan Union (Behramke), Bharti Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh), Bharti Kisan Union (Chottu Ram), Kisan Mahapanchayat (Haryana), Pagri Sambhal Jatta (Haryana), Progressive Farmer Front (Uttar Pradesh), Bhoomi Bachao Muhim (Uttarakhand) and the Rashtriya Kisan Sangathan (Himachal Pradesh).

Earlier this month, a group of about 100 farmers staged a ‘rail roko’ protest in Maharashtra’s Sangli district against the acquisition of land by the railways. Due to the protests, the Kolhapur-Gondia Maharashtra Express halted for over four hours in the Bhilwadi-Nandre area in Palus tehsil. The Maharashtra farmers have demanded that their additional land be acquired by the railways and hence a joint measurement for the same was in an ongoing consultation with the district administration.