BJP activists stop trains in Punjab, Haryana

Chandigarh, April 3 (IANS) Train services in parts of Punjab and Haryana were affected Tuesday as the Kisan Morcha farmers wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blocked railway tracks as part of its one-day agitation to demand higher procurement prices for foodgrain.

In Punjab, at least 10 trains were stopped and delayed as activists blocked railway tracks at Amritsar, Phagwara and Sahnewal (near Ludhiana). The Amritsar-New Delhi Swarn Shatabdi was among the trains stopped by the BJP activists.

The Kisan Morcha had called for a rail roko (blockade) Tuesday in eight states where foodgrain is procured. The states are Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

BJP Kisan Morcha national media in-charge Vineet Joshi said here that the agitation was to press the United Progressive Alliance government at the centre to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Committee, controlling farmers' suicides and providing Rs.500 bonus per quintal of wheat.

A morcha spokesman said that over 200,000 farmers joined the agitation and stopped trains at 76 places in these eight states.

Joshi said rail traffic was blocked at 40 places in Madhya Pradesh, 10 places in Rajasthan, eight places in Uttar Pradesh, six places in Punjab, five places in Haryana, four places in Uttarakhand, one place in Jammu and Kashmir and at two places in Himachal Pradesh.

"National president of BJP Kisan Morcha Om Prakash Dhankar along with thousands of farmers blocked railway traffic in Bhiwani district in Haryana," Joshi said.

Railway tracks were blocked at Bhiwani, Faridabad, Panipat, Tohana and Ambala in Haryana, he said.

In Punjab, rail traffic was disrupted by BJP kisan morcha activists at Sahnewal, Sangrur, Bathinda, Amritsar, Phagwara and Hoshiarpur, he claimed.