Jalandhar: No relief for commuters as trains stay cancelled

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 22

Unable to get any positive response to their demands, the sugarcane farmers announced to continue with their protest on the Dhanowali railway tracks and the Jalandhar-Phagwara stretch of the national highway here on Sunday. Even heavy transport vehicles like trucks remain stranded on the highway on the third consecutive day. From the Maqsudan bypass flyover to the PAP (connecting Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana) chowk, truck drivers parked their trucks on the highway.

The sit-in on the Dhanowali railway track also forced the Railways to cancel trains. The Railways on Sunday officially communicated the cancellation of 51 trains, including Shatabdi, diversion of 12 trains and short-termination of around 23 trains. Routes of over 100 trains have been affected due to the ongoing stir, which the farmers declared to be indefinite unless their demands were not met.

Besides, the Punjab Roadways and the PRTC also kept their buses off the roads on August 20, buses were plied on diverted routes today. Owing to the huge rush of passengers at the local bus stand, buses were operated via villages.

The cancellation of several long-route and other passenger trains continued to give tough time to passengers. The worst affected were those passengers who had come from other parts of the state. Salwinder Singh, who had come from Chandigarh to visit his relatives in Kartarpur, said, “I was aware of the protest, but I thought I would reach Chandigarh before 11 am after boarding a bus from Kartarpur around 8 am. However, the bus took nearly an hour to reach even the Jalandhar bus stand. Later, the bus could not cross Jalandhar.”

Similarly, Manoj Kumar, a migrant, was stranded near Rama Mandi after he failed to find a bus for his destination later. He had to pay hefty fare to an auto-rickshaw driver to cross Phagwara.

Roadways staff said they were struggling to get passengers on various routes, including Delhi, Jaipur, Ludhiana and others.

Ramandeep Kaur, a student, who had come from Amritsar, kept waiting for a bus to reach Chandigarh till 2 pm. All national and state highways across the district were blocked by the protesting farmers.

The Amritsar-Delhi Shatabdi, Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express, Howrah Mail, Amritsar- Haridwar Intercity, Delhi-Pathankot Express, Amritsar-Chandigarh, Nanded Sahib, Katihar Express, Amritsar-Lal Kuan, Begumpura Express, Amritsar- Bandra Terminal and others are some of the trains which remain cancelled.