Farmers' protest: 71 trains cancelled, diverted in Punjab

NEW DELHI/LUDHIANA: Seventy-one passenger trains were cancelled and diverted due to the protests in Punjab near Dasua where farmers blocked rail tracks to protest non-payment of sugarcane dues by the state government, the railway ministry said Saturday.
The ministry said in a statement the agitation started at 12:15pm and was still going on.
"Nearly 250 protesters, all of a sudden, gathered at level crossing A-82 between Dasua and Khuda Kurala stations and squatted on tracks, blocking both up and down rail traffic," Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar said.
"Consequently, nearly 35 trains had to be cancelled, 16 diverted via Amritsar and 20 trains short terminated," Kumar said. Major long route trains that were affected included Jammu-New Delhi (Jammu Mail Express), Jammu-Rishikesh (Hemkunt Express), and Jammu-Delhi Sarai Rohilla (Duronto Express).
According to railway sources, farmers started their agitation on the Jammu rail route, about 80km from Ludhiana around 1pm. With the route blocked, passengers waiting to travel to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu-bound trains got stuck in the city station.
Also, rail passengers in long route trains coming from the south -east towards Jammu were in a state of confusion for several hours, as their train came to a standstill at the Ludhiana railway station in the evening hours.
Railway security forces reached the spot, trying to convince farmers that if they did not call off their protest in the next few hours, then the situation could worsen and lead to cancellation of more trains running on this route.