NEW DELHI, Apr 20: A total of 54 trains on the Ambala-Amritsar route were cancelled on Saturday as farmers squatted on tracks at the Shambhu railway station in Punjab’s Patiala district for the fourth day, officials said.
The protestors have been demanding the release of three farmers arrested by the Haryana Police during the ongoing stir. The protest has affected the movement of 380 trains in the last three days, causing inconvenience to passengers, they added.
The farmers have been protesting under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) in Patiala district’s Shambhu. They began their protest for the release of arrested farmers on April 17 by squatting on the tracks on the Ambala-Ludhiana-Amritsar route in Shambhu near the Punjab-Haryana border.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said the protest will continue until the three farmers were released. The SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM are spearheading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march by farmers to press the government to accept their demands, including 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.
(Manas Dasgupta)
