During a 4-hour ‘rail roko’ agitation for Minimum Support Price (MSP) and other demands, a goods train in Patiala came to a halt perilously close to the protesting farmers on Sunday. Despite alerts from railway authorities in Patiala to their counterparts in Haryana, the farmers claimed that the train stopped barely 100 meters away from them.

Authorities from the Ambala railway division clarified that the farmers were situated on a dedicated freight corridor (DFC), while the train in question was on a trial run. Naveen Kumar, the senior divisional commercial manager at Ambala, stated, “The DFC operates with separate control systems and tracks enclosed within a boundary. When the train departed from New Dukhedi, the farmers’ protest had not yet commenced. The DFC will conduct its own investigation into the matter.”

Baldev Singh Zira, president of BKU Krantikari, expressed astonishment at the train’s proximity to the protesting farmers. He remarked, “The protest was pre-announced, scheduled to last for 4 hours from noon. It is surprising how the train approached so closely. It was approximately 12:35 pm, and the presence of farmers with their flags should have alerted the train driver from afar. Despite this scare, the protest continued peacefully.”

Contrary to the farmers’ claims, the Government Railway Police’s officer in charge at Rajpura, Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaswinder Singh, stated, “The train stopped approximately 300 meters away from the protesting farmers at normal speed. We had communicated written information about the rail blockade to our counterparts in Haryana. Additionally, the traffic marshal and the stationmaster at Shambhu had informed them about the protest site.”

Meanwhile, five farmer unions—BKU’s Ekta Ugrahan, Ekta Dkaunda (Dhaner), Malwa and Doaba factions, along with Krantikari Kisan Union (Darshanpal)—occupied tracks at 10 different locations in Punjab.