51 trains affected today in Punjab farmers extended stir

51 trains affected today in Punjab farmers extended stir

 Ferozepur, October 9, 2015:  In all, 51 trains were affected today in Punjab farmers’ extended stir under ‘rail roko’ programme demanding higher compensation for their cotton and basmati crops.

As per the railway bulletin, 16 mail express, 11 passengers trains were cancelled while 8 mail express were diverted, 6 mails and one passenger were short termination and 9 were short origination.

The farmers unions have extended the stir by two days causing lot of inconvenience to the public especially those who have to travel because of their personal or official engagements finalized well in advance.

The farmers have sit on dharna and shouted slogans against the government.  The protesters said, because of non seriousness of the government towards farmers, they have could not get the good quality seed and pesticides.  They demanded the compensation to the farmers and field workers on account of loss of their crops.

So far as the loss is concerned, the railway authorities are still tight lipped but sources said, it is likely to be in thousands of crores.

The farmers agitation was supported by eight farmers unions to pressure the SAD-BJP government to accept their demands including Rs.40,000 per acre compensation for cotton crop loss in whitefly attack, a minimum Rs.4500 per quintal remuneration for basmati varieties and Rs.20000 each for the agrarian crisis-hit farm workers.