Farmers threaten to block railway tracks across India if demands are not met

Unhappy with the Centre’s offer of making amendments to the agriculture laws, the farmers’ unions on Thursday said that they will block railway tracks if their demands are not met and will announce the date soon. Addressing reporters at the Singhu border where they have been protesting for almost two weeks to demand a rollback of the law, the farmer unions also reiterated that they will intensify their agitation and start blocking all highways leading to the national capital.

"We will block railway tracks if our demands are not met. We will decide on the date and announce it soon," farmer leader Boota Singh said at the press conference. "Centre has admitted that laws have been made for traders. If agriculture is a state subject, Central govt does not have right to make laws on it," added Balbir Singh Rajewal, another leader. Thousands of farmers have been protesting at various border points for almost two weeks seeking a repeal of the new laws, which they claim were aimed at benefitting corporates by weakening the mandi system and the minimum support price (MSP) regime for procurement of farm produce.