Farmers seeking a hike in sugarcane prices blocked rail tracks and a national highway in Punjab’s Jalandhar for the second day on Saturday, affecting trains and vehicular traffic.
According to railway officials of the Ferozepur division, 69 trains have been cancelled, while 54 have been diverted or short terminated.
Rail passengers travelling for ‘Raksha Bandhan’ festival on Sunday bore the maximum brunt of the blockade.
Scores of farmers had on Friday launched an idefinite agitation to press the State government to accept their demands related to the pending dues of sugarcane and hike in cane prices.
On Saturday, they refused to lift the blockade till their demands were met.
Emergency vehicles have been allowed to ply, they added.
Protesters have blocked the Jalandhar-Phagwara stretch of the National Highway near Dhanowali village of Jalandhar district. The blockade hit vehicular movement to and from Jalandhar, Amritsar and Pathankot.
Farmers sitting on the Jalandhar-Chaheru section have blocked the Ludhiana-Amritsar and the Ludhiana-Jammu rail tracks in Jalandhar, affecting several trains, including the Amritsar-New Delhi Swarna Shatabdi Exp. Spl., Amritsar-Dehradun Exp. Spl., New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Spl. and the New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Shri Shakti Spl.
Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni said they are allowing families travelling for ‘Raksha Bandhan’ to go through the service lane along the National Highway.
Rejected hike
Protesting farmers are demanding that the Punjab government raise the State Assured Price of sugarcane and clear arrears of ₹200-250 crore.
They have already rejected the hike of ₹15 per quintal announced by the government a few days ago.
