293 trains hit: Several rail lines on Punjab-Haryana route affected

New Delhi: Movement of over 293 trains around the country was hit amid a 'rail roko' protest called to press for the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra's dismissal and arrest over Lakhimpur incident in Uttar Pradesh.

At least 118 trains are stuck before the destination, while 43 trains have been cancelled.

Ajay Mishra's son, Ashish, has been arrested in the case, but the farmers' body say that as long as the Minister is in the government justice cannot be secured in the matter. Eight people, including four farmers, were killed when a car belonging to the minister ran over them on October 3. Farmers have alleged that the minister's son mowed down the protesting farmers.

Action will be taken against those participating in the rail roko andolan, said Lucknow police, adding that the stringent National Security Act will be invoked against those trying to disrupt normalcy.

Farmers in Punjab and elsewhere were seen squatting on rail tracks as part of their protest. Four sections of the Ferozepur division were blocked by the protesters, said a railway official. The Ferozepur-Fazilka section in Ferozepur city and the Ferozepur-Ludhiana section at Ajitwal in Moga were affected, he added.

In the North Western Railway (NWR) zone, rail traffic was affected in some sections in Rajasthan and Haryana with 18 trains cancelled, 10 partially cancelled and one diverted due to the protest. The trains that have been affected in the Northern Railway zone include the Chandigarh-Ferozepur Express.

Its scheduled departure from Ludhiana was 7 am, but has been stranded there due to a blockade in the Ferozpur-Ludhiana section, the official said. The New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express was halted near Shambu station as protesters blocked railway tracks near Sahnewal and Rajpura.

"150 locations in the Northern Railway zone have been affected and operations of 60 trains hindered. About 25 passenger and short distance trains have been cancelled," the Northern Railway CPRO said.

In Rajasthan, farmers held a protest on the tracks in Hanumangarh district and at the entrance of Jaipur Junction station and raised slogans against the Central and the Uttar Pradesh governments.

The route of Ahmedabad-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Special train has also been changed, the NWR spokesperson said, adding the train which departed from Ahmedabad on Saturday will run via Rewari-Delhi-Pathankot to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the Centre's three agri laws, had said "protests will be intensified until justice is secured" in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

Four of the eight people who died in the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers. Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles. The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver. Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and Ajay Mishra who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time. Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case on October 9.