On March 11, farmers participated in a four-hour-long ‘rail roko’ protest as a part of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest. A day before, on March 10, farmer unions Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced a nationwide ‘rail roko’ protest to put pressure on the union government to accept their demand for bringing in a law on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and other demands.
As per a report of Hindustan Times, Sarwan Singh Pandher, farmer leader from the KMM, had announced that the protesting farmers will stage sit-ins on railway tracks across Punjab, including Ferozepur, Amritsar, Rupnagar, and Gurdaspur districts. These protests took place between noon and 4 pm and saw the participation from the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), Bharti Kisan Union (Dakaunda-Dhaner), and the Krantikari Kisan Union, affiliated with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. As per the HT report, 9 trains cancelled in Ambala division due to ‘rail roko’ agitation. It had been reported that other train services in Haryana were also impacted.
In addition to this, another death of a protesting farmer was reported yesterday. As provided by a separate report of Hindustan Times, the deceased farmer, who has been identified as Baldev Singh, had been admitted to the Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala after he had complained of breathlessness on the afternoon of March 10. The 65-year-old man, who had been participating in the ongoing farmers’ agitation at Khanouri, died while undergoing treatment.
As per the report, doctors at the government hospital provided that the exact cause of the elderly farmer’s death could only be ascertained after a post-mortem is conducted. The farmer had been protesting at the Khanouri border for over a past few weeks. Baldev Singh belonged to Kangthala village in Patiala and was associated with Krantikari Kisan Union. Notably, this is the death that has been reported since the protest began on February 13.
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