Protesting farmers in Punjab decide to call of rail blockade

Chandigarh Protesting farmers in Punjab on Tuesday decided to call off their sevenday Rail Roko stir which has crippled rail services in the state but said their agitation against the Parkash Singh Badal government would continue in support of their demand for higher compensationInstead of blocking tracks the farmers have now decided to gherao all state ministers ruling party MLAs other party leaders at all the district headquarters on October 22We have decided to call off our Rail Roko agitation We will lift our blockade at different places in the state at 2 PM BKU Ekta Dakunda General Secretary Jagmohan Singh saidHowever he said their agitation against the SADBJP led state government would continue for nonacceptance of all of their demands including higher compensation for cotton crop lossOur agitation will continue We will now change the format of our agitation We have decided to gherao all the state ministers ruling party MLAs other party leaders at all the district headquarters on October 22 We will also show black flags to ministers ruling party leaders at village level regularly Singh further saidAgitating farmers arrived at the decision after holding their core committee meeting which continued till late night at Kisan Bhawan hereThe farmers agitation which began on October 7 paralysed rail movement in Punjab as over 1100 trains were affected because of protest in Ambala and Ferozepur divisions of railways causing inconvenience to passengers and heavy loss to financial loss to railway authoritiesRailway officials said it will take a minimum of 24 hours to restore normalcy as railway would carry out inspection of tracks where protesting farmers had put up blockadesThe crucial talks between protesting farmers and Badal failed to break the deadlock over peasants demands yesterday following which farmers announced to continue with their agitation till todayOur meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was a failure despite some positive results for farmers Singh saidThe BKU leader lashed out at Badal for expressing inability to raise the quantum of compensation for cotton crop loss and basmati pricesDuring the meeting Badal told us that state government has nothing to offer But said our demands are genuine and farmers are in pain Badal said his governments financial position was worse than the cotton crop which has been extensively damaged by the whitefly attack Singh saidShould such kind of response be given by a CM to protesting farmers asked SinghSingh said the state government was not ready to pay more than Rs 8000 per acre as compensation for crop loss and the government also did not accede to their demand of giving higher rates for PUSA 1121 basmati varietyThe state government told us that PUSA 1121 basmati crop will not be purchased at MSP by state agencies We were demanding higher rates for PUSA 1121 variety which is in great demand in overseas markets like Iran he saidHowever he said Punjab Police DGP Sumedh Saini who was also present in yesterdays meeting of farmers with Badal had assured them that police would inquire into alleged fleecing of farmers by Arthiyas who had been paying lower rates to farmers for PUSA 1509 basmati varietyProtesting farmers have been demanding Rs 40000 per acre compensation for farmers whose crop got damaged by whitefly attack Rs 20000 per family compensation for farm labourers Rs 4500 per quintal rate for Basmati PUSA 1509 variety Rs 5000 per quintal for Basmati PUSA 1121Besides they are also seeking payments of sugarcane dues by private mills debt relief and Rs 5 lakh financial assistance to the family of farmers who commit suicideAsked what the farmers got from the state government BKU leader said the state government has offered to pay Rs 64 crore compensation to farm labourersOn the issue of debt waiver Singh said that Punjab CM has assured that he would take up the matter with RBI while for cooperative loans the state government would come out with a policy To check exploitation of farmers by commission agents Arthiyas Singh said the state government would come out with a Money Lending Act in this regard He said Badal had also assured that land ownership would be given to those who had been cultivating land for long and land was in their name as GirdwariAfter the meeting with representatives of farmers remained inconclusive yesterday Badal had again appealed to them to lift their rail blockade while assuring that he was ever ready to resolve any issue related to agriculture through mutual dialogueBadal had termed as very unfortunate and agonizing the inconvenience caused to various section of people particularly women children and students due to the rail blockadeFarmers organizations along with farm labour outfits including BKU Ekta Dakunda BKU Ekta Ugrahan BKU Krantikari Kirti Kisan Union were participating in the Rail Roko agitation which began on October 7Initially the agitation was for two days October 7 and 8 but it was extended for two days till October 10 and extended for another two days till October 12The sevenday blockade had disrupted movement of 564 trains in Ferozepur division While 289 trains 127 mailexpress and 162 passenger trains were cancelled the rest of them were diverted short terminated and short originated railway authorities saidThe protest on Tuesday affected the movement of 91 trains out of which 48 trains were cancelled railway officials said The cancelled trains were NangaldamAmritsar Express New DelhiAmritsar intercity New DelhiJalandhar intercity ChandigarhAmritsar intercity ShanePunjab GorakhpurAmritsar Express ShanePunjab Ferozepur CanttDelhi Sarai LudhianaFerozepur Express and several passenger trainsAmong trains which were diverted were Tata NagarJammu Tavi AmritsarNew Delhi Shadabdi AmritsarHaridwar Jan Shatabadi Amritsar Mumbai DelhiPathankot AhemdabadKatra MumbaiAmritsar AmritsarAjmer express FerozepurMumbai Golden Temple MailTrain which were short terminated and short originated were HowrahAmritsar Express Amarpali Express New DelhiAmritsar Shatabdi Chhattisgarh Express Jansewa Express Jan Nayak express KanpurAmritsar weekly Paschim Express Sachkhand express