Farmers' protest continues at Shambhu railway station; more trains affected

Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha continued to sit on a rail track in Patiala district near the Punjab-Haryana border on Thursday, demanding release of three farmers arrested by the Haryana Police.

With their protest continuing, the railway authorities, under the Ambala railway division, on Thursday said 53 more trains were cancelled, 12 were short-terminated and 23 were diverted.

The disruption in rail movement was causing inconvenience to rail passengers.

Farmers are demanding the release of three fellow farmers, including Navdeep Singh, who were arrested by the Haryana Police during the ongoing stir.

They have said they will not end their protest until their fellow protesters are released.
 

Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said their protest was going on.

Ambala railway division, senior divisional commercial manager, Naveen Kumar said the movement of many trains have been affected because of the farmers' protest at the Shambhu railway station.

According to officials, several trains including New Delhi-Amritsar, Rishikesh to Sri Ganganagar, Ludhiana to Ambala Cantt were cancelled.

Protesting farmers sat on the Ambala-Ludhiana rail track on Wednesday, demanding the release of three farmers.

The SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM are spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' march by farmers to press the government to accept their demands which includes that the Centre should give a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.

The farmers have been staying put at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 when their march was stopped by the security forces.