Railway services coming back to normalcy as farmers withdraw protest

The railways have restored the services of five cancelled and 13 other diverted trains, hours after the farmers' agitation in Punjab was called off over intervention by the court, northern railways said Wednesday. The farmers had been squatting on the rail tracks in Amritsar since March 4 in support of their demands, including full loan waiver, stopping the auction of land and arrest of farmers, and payment for sugarcane crop with 15 per cent interest.

A petition seeking the removal of farmers protesting on the Amritsar-Delhi rail track was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday, with the court issuing notices to Punjab, Centre and leaders of farmers' outfit Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee to appear before it on Wednesday. The farmers called off the agitation after the court asked the state government to look into their demands.

Earlier, the railways had cancelled 38 trains with almost all trains running between Amritsar and Delhi being disrupted amid the protests. The Chandigarh-Amritsar Express, Amritsar-Hissar Passenger and Amritsar-Jalandhar DMU were among those trains which were restored.

Trains such as the Indore -Amritsar Express and the New Delhi-Amritsar Shan-E-Punjab which were short terminated will now run up to Amritsar, it said. Amritsar-Bilaspur Chhatisgarh Express, Amritsar-Bandra Terminus Golden Temple Mail and the Amritsar-Dehradun Express which were diverted will now run on its usual route.

(With inputs from agencies.)