Due to farmers’ Rail ‘Roko’ agitation against Lakhimpur Kheri violence, nearly 50 trains across 130 places in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan were affected, a railway official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Additional director general of police Prashant Kumar told ANI that no trains were stopped in Uttar Pradesh, where the administration has warned of strict measures against those who are found disrupting normalcy.
Farmers unions are holding an
agitation on Monday, over the violence erupted in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3. Eight people died in the violence, including four farmers, after a vehicle ran over the cultivators.
The six-hour farmers’ ‘rail roko’ protest will end at 4pm. The agitating farmers have demanded the dismissal of Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra. They accused his son Ashish of being present in the vehicle that ran over the farmers. Both the union minister and his son have refuted the allegations.
Train traffic was affected in the some sections of North Western Railway (NWR) zone in Rajasthan and Haryana with two trains cancelled, 13 partially cancelled and one diverted due to the protest, news agency PTI reported
In Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar train movement were affected under the Bikaner division due to the protest.
The protest has been called by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmers’ unions, which started the farmers’ agitation, last year against the Central government’s three contentious farm laws enacted.
(With inputs)
