‘Rail roko’ passed without any untoward incident: Railways

The four-hour-long 'rail roko' agitation by farmers on Thirsday,against the Centre's three agriculture laws ended without any untoward incident, the Indian Railways has said. There was negligible or minimal impact on running of the trains across the country," it said, adding that train movement in all zones was back to normal.  Few trains were stopped in some areas but now train operation is normal," the Indian Railways said.

The Railways deployed 20 additional companies of RPSF across the country, with focus on Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, ahead of the protest which was organised to pressurise the government into repealing the laws. The protest was announced last week by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the agitation.The spokesperson said that a few trains were stopped in some areas of some zonal railways but now train operations are normal. The official said the majority of the zones have not reported a single case of any stoppage of trains by the agitators.He said that North Central Railway, South Eastern Railway, Southern Railway, South Eastern Railway, North Frontier Railway, Central Railway and South Western Railway did not report any untoward incident.

As per media reports the impact of the rail roko was also visible in several parts of Rajasthan, as farm leaders were seen standing on the engine at the Gandhinagar railway station in Jaipur. The farmers also blocked the railway tracks in Chomu.In Uttar Pradesh, the impact of the ‘Rail Roko’ call had negligible impact. Farmers made efforts to stop trains in Meerut, Ballia, Prayagraj, Mathura, Bahraich, Bijnor, Amethi and Aligarh but their efforts were thwarted by alert policemen.In Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, farmers blocked the railway tracks.