Rahul arrives in Punjab to listen to farmers' woes

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi travelled in the general compartment of a train on Tuesday and reached the Sirhind grain market in Punjab to interact with farmers who are facing problems with wheat stocks not being lifted by government agencies.

Gandhi met farmers and labourers working at the grain market briefly and left for the Khanna grain market, considered the largest in Asia.

Dressed casually in blue denims and a dark T-shirt, Gandhi travelled by the Sachkhand Express from Delhi to Ambala en route to Sirhind and Khanna towns in Punjab to listen to woes of farmers who are facing hardship due to their wheat stocks not being lifted from the grain markets by government agencies.

"I was talking to people on the train. They told me that stocks were not being lifted in grain markets. I am going to Punjab to look at the problems that farmers are facing," Gandhi told the media en route.

Farmers across Punjab are protesting the tardy lifting of wheat stocks. They are blaming the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government for the procurement mess in the state.

Farmers have blocked railway tracks in Amritsar, Mansa and Ludhiana districts since Monday.

Gandhi was mobbed by party leaders and supporters as he got off the second class general compartment of the train at the Ambala Cantt. station.

He spoke to people, especially farmers and youth, on the train. He also signed autographs for youth who seemed excited to see him amongst them.

He was accompanied by Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia from Delhi.

Punjab Congress president Pratap Singh Bajwa and Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar were among those who received him at Ambala.