Title - Over 500 activists detained to thwart 'rail roko' agitation

Over 500 persons were today detained at the wee hours of the day from across Punjab to thwart the plans of farmers and other organisations to block rail traffic. "We have made preventive arrests of 65 activists by putting up nakas on various points on the roads leading to Rajpura railway junction," a senior police officer said here. Access to the Rajpura railway station was restricted for passengers only, he added. Scores of activist were detained at several other parts of the state. Activists of the farmer unions had threatened that they would halt trains at Rajpura junction, Beas and other places in Punjab today for two hours. Seventeen farmer unions, including the Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta (Dakaunda), Jamhoori Kissan Sabha, Kissan Sangharsh Committee, Kirti Kissan Union, Punjab Kissan Union and Bhartiya Kissan Union Ekta (Ugrahan) had decided to hold protest on rail tracks in the state. The unions are demanding an increase in the minimum support price of wheat as per the Swaminathan Committee Report and subsidies for diesel and farm products.

Sources in the BKUE (Dakaunda) alleged that the police have not yet confirmed the whereabouts of their detained leaders Jagmohan Singh (general secretary), Darshan Pal, Satwant Singh and others.

Meanwhile, BKUE (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahon and general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokari, in a statement, condemned the crackdown on farmer leaders in various parts of Punjab, including Moga and Tarn Taran.