Rail services resume in Pb after farmers call-off protest

Rail services in Punjab resumed this evening after agitating sugarcane farmers, who squatted on railway track, called off their protest following assurance from state government to look into the issue of non-payment of dues by sugar mills.
"We have called off our protest following a written assurance from Punjab government of accepting our most of the demands," Farmer leader Harjindra Singh Duhare said.
Director of Punjab's agriculture department and Sugarcane commissioner reached the protest spot and handed over the written assurance of accepting the demands, he said.
Meanwhile, Anuj Prakash, Divisional Railway Manager (Ferozepur Division), said that services have resumed and trains stopped at different places have started plying on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana route.

Passengers especially children and women had to face great inconvenience in this hot weather due to the protest.
The movement of as many as 11 trains, including Malwa Express and Shan-e-Punjab, were hit due to the protest at Delhi-Amritsar and Delhi-Jammu lines which started this morning.
The agitators had also disrupted the road traffic on National Highway between Rama Mandi and Jalandhar for two hours in support of their demands.
The agitators, under the banner of Doaba Kissan Sangharsh Committee and Pagdi Sambhal Jata Lehar committee, had been demanding starting operations in sugar mills in the state, payment of their sugarcane dues and implentation of recommendations of Swaminathan committee.