December 18, 2024: Train services across Punjab were disrupted today as thousands of farmers staged a three-hour 'rail roko' protest from 12 pm to 3 pm, squatting on railway tracks across 23 districts. The demonstration, organized by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, highlights the farmers' continued agitation for their long-pending demands.
Key demands include a legal guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, debt waivers, pensions for farmers and laborers, and justice for victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Visuals from multiple locations, including Firozpur and Sangrur, showed farmers halting trains, sitting on tracks, and raising slogans against the government. Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher confirmed the protest is part of an ongoing movement that began on February 13 when police blocked farmers' attempts to march to Delhi at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana.
Despite being thwarted multiple times by Haryana police on December 6, 8, and 14, a group of 101 farmers attempted to reach Delhi on foot. Protesters have since been camping at the border locations, maintaining pressure on authorities.
Meanwhile, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal announced that the unions would not engage with the Supreme Court-appointed committee, which convened in Panchkula today. In a letter to the committee’s head, retired judge Nawab Singh, Dallewal cited the poor health of injured farmers at the Shambhu border and his own medical condition as reasons for his absence.
The Supreme Court constituted the committee on September 2 to address the grievances of protesting farmers. During a December 13 hearing, the court assured that the panel's recommendations would be shared with all stakeholders before any decisions were finalized. However, farmers’ unions remain firm in their decision to boycott the proceedings for now.
As the agitation intensifies, rail passengers in Punjab continue to bear the brunt, while farmers vow to press on until their demands are met.