25 trains cancelled as farmers block tracks in Amritsar

Amritsar, March 5 (IANS) As many as 25 trains were cancelled and seven diverted on Tuesday as angry farmers, demanding loan waiver and implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report, blocked railway tracks in Punjab's Amritsar district, officials said.

A railway official said the New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express and the New Delhi-Amritsar Shan-e-Punjab Express were terminated in Jalandhar and Beas towns, respectively

The farmers have been staging a protest since Monday.

"We are protesting against the failure of the state government to waive off loans of all the farmers as it had promised during the assembly elections," protestor Ajaib Singh told reporters.

According to a Northern Railways statement, the trains that were cancelled include the New Delhi-Jalandhar Intercity Express, the Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi Express, the Haridwar-Amritsar Jan Shatabdi Express, the Chandigarh-Amritsar Superfast Express and the Nangal Dam-Amritsar Express.

The trains that were diverted include the Delhi-Pathankot Superfast Express and the Amritsar-Sealdah Akal Takht Express.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party legislator and party's farmer wing state chief Kultar Singh Sandhawan slammed the Amarinder Singh government for being insensitive to the demands of the farming community and farm labojurers.

In a statement in Chandigarh, he said like the previous SAD-BJP government, the Congress government too had failed to address the concerns of the farmers and backtracked on other promises it made to them ahead of the assembly elections.