Farmers on Sunday blocked railway tracks at several places across Punjab as part of a “rail roko” protest called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha to press the Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee on minimum support prices (MSP).

The protest was supported by four unions of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), including the influential Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), and farm activists blocked all the major railway tracks across the state for four hours — noon to 4pm. In all, farmers blocked railway tracks at 52 locations in 22 districts, including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Tarn Taran, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Sangrur, Mansa, Moga and Bathinda.

A total of 69 trains, including Vande Bharat, Shatabdi and other passenger trains, were affected in the region. In the Ferozepur division alone, 24 trains were affected: nine were cancelled, eight short-terminated, and seven short-originated.

Trains were cancelled on the Ferozepur-Bathinda, Bathinda-Ferozepur, Verka-Dera Baba Nanak, Dera Baba Nanak-Verka, Jalandhar City-Hoshiarpur, Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar City, Jalandhar City-Pathankot, Pathankot-Verka, and Verka-Pathankot routes.

Simultaneously, eight trains were short-terminated on the New Delhi-Amritsar, Ludhiana-Ferozepur, Ferozepur-Fazilka, Jakhal-Ferozepur, Khemkaran-Bhagtwala, Ajmer-Amritsar, Ludhiana-Cheratta, and New Delhi-Amritsar routes. In the Ambala division, a total of nine trains were cancelled and 26 others were affected. The Shatabdi was rescheduled for the evening. Amid heavy presence of security forces, the farmers were not able to block the crucial Delhi-Ambala track at Mohra in Ambala Cantonment, Haryana.

The protest remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported, police said.

Jagjeet Singh Dallewal, convener, SKM (non-political) said: “The response to our rail roko call has been good. Protests were held in more spots than it was announced. We have received reports that rail roko was held even in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, UP, Rajasthan, and Bihar.”

The stir was led by KMM convener Sarwan Singh Pandher and Dallewal in Amritsar. Both of them said more protest-related action plans will be carried out in the coming days.

“There are reports of railway tracks being blocked by farmers in various states of the country, including Tamil Nadu (20 places), Madhya Pradesh (3), Punjab (75), Rajasthan (3) and Haryana (5). There are also reports of arrests of farmers by police in Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” the farm leaders said in a joint press statement. “If the arrested farmers are not released, it will invite a strong reaction”, the statement added.

Dallewal welcomed the support of four SKM organisations. “Though, we have ideological differences, the support of these organisations has given a boost to the fight for farmers’ rights. We welcome their support, and other organisations should also join in,” he said.

Commenting on his decision to join, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), while addressing a protest at Sangrur railway station, said, “We have not joined the rail roko because of Pandher and Dallewal, we are protesting for farmers of Punjab, it is them we are answerable to. Even if Dallewal and Pandher don’t want to talk to us, we will continue to protest even if we haven’t given any call.”

Pandher while addressing a gathering in Amritsar, said, “We are determined and will stay put for the long haul. The Union government should realise that. We will not call off out stir until our main demand – a legal guarantee on MSP – is fulfilled.”

So far, Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda and Nityanand Rai have held four rounds of talks with leaders of the protesting farm bodies in Chandigarh, but no breakthrough has been achieved.