The movement of several trains is likely to be affected in Punjab on Wednesday as farmers are set to squat on the tracks as part of their three-hour ‘rail roko’ protest in support of various demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.
According to farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher, the protests, organised by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, would begin at 12 pm and end at 3 pm in 23 districts spanning across the state.
Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
A “jatha” (group) of 101 farmers made three attempts to enter Delhi on foot on December 6, December 8 and again on December 14. They were not allowed to proceed by security personnel in Haryana.
Besides a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Earlier on Tuesday, Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said farmers won’t be able to meet the Supreme Court-appointed committee on December 18 in Panchkula.
In a letter to former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nawab Singh, who heads the committee, Dallewal said the two forums of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have decided that they won’t be able to meet the committee in the wake of his medical condition and the state of injured farmers at the Shambhu border.
In the hearing on December 13, the apex court had said the committee would talk to the protesting farmers and make recommendations to the court which eventually be put to the stakeholders for a decision.
The committee was constituted on September 2 to resolve the grievances of farmers agitating at the Shambhu border. The SC-appointed panel invited the farmers to hold a meeting on December 18 in Haryana’s Panchkula.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s fast-unto-death enters 22nd day
In the letter on Tuesday, Dallewal wrote that he had been on a hunger strike since November 26 and his fast-unto-death has entered 22nd day on Tuesday.
He wrote that at least 40 farmers sustained injuries during the “police excesses” at the Shambhu border when they tried to march to Delhi on foot.
“Your committee was formed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court to restore trust between farmers and governments but you have not made any concrete effort for that till now nor did make any serious effort to negotiate with the central government to fulfill our legitimate demands,” he wrote.
“Our delegation met you on November 4, but despite such a serious situation, the committee has not yet found time to come to Khanauri and Shambhu. I am very sad to see that you have become active after so much delay.
Was this committee waiting for my death? We did not expect such insensitivity from all members of the committee,” wrote Dallewal.
Dallewal (70), a cancer patient, has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana to press the Centre to accept the agitating farmers’ demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.
Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.
(With PTI inputs)
