Police closed key roads, increased checking to prevent untoward incidents
Hundreds of people had to spend restless hours in their stranded vehicles as chaos reigned on the roads connecting the capital and neighbouring states and rail traffic was disrupted during the Bharat Bandh on Monday. It was called by farmer unions against the Centres three agri laws.
Serpentine queues of vehicles were seen on the Delhi-Gurgaon border while parts of the national capital too witnessed traffic snarls as police closed some key roads and increased checking to prevent any untoward incident during the protests by farmers on the routes.
According to Railway officials, about 25 trains have been affected due to the Bharat Bandh, including Delhi-Amritsar Shan-e-Punjab, Delhi-Moga Express, Old Delhi-Payhajot Express, Vande Bharat Express from New Delhi to Katra, and Amritsar Shatabdi.
Farmers squatted on railway tracks at many places in Punjab and Haryana including at Shahbad near Kurukshetra, Sonipat, Bahadurgarh, Charkhi Dadri, Jind, Hisar, Amritsar, Patiala, Barnala and Lalru near Derabassi. As a result, several trains were held up. A tourist couple returning to Rajasthans Udaipur were stranded at Chandigarh railway station for hours as farmers had blocked the rail track at other places affecting train movement. The couple said everyone has sympathy with farmers, but the public should not be inconvenienced.
Oppn parties’ bandh evokes poor response
The day-long bandh called for by the opposition parties in the State demanding evoked poor response in the state. Most of the public services and shops were running as usual in Chennai, where the Left parties, DMK, Congress and VCK organised road roko. Leaders of the Secular alliance also organised similar protests in other parts of the State.
200 places in central TN witness strikes
Farmers and political party cadre held protests at more than 220 places across central region on Monday. When farmers led by P Ayyakannu went to block trains near Oyamari, they were stopped at Annamalai Nagar. They sat on the road and raised slogans against the Centre. Shops remained closed at many places.
Thousands arrested for staging protests
Thousands of members of various political parties and farmers’ associations were arrested for staging protests in western districts as part of the nationwide Bharat Bandh. Except for traffic disruptions, the protests were peaceful and normalcy was not affected in any of the districts in the region.
