Chennai: Thousands of farmers blocked trains for hours demanding the implementation of the Supreme Court order to form the Cauvery Management Board, as delta districts bore the brunt of the agitations on Monday.
As part of the two-day agitations, farmers in Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam stopped the trains at several parts of the delta region, catching the police unaware. Policemen had to rush to remote places to remove the protesters from the tracks and ensure the movement of trains, which were delayed by several hours.
Farmers brought seedlings and planted them between the railway tracks in Tiruchy as a sign of protest against the Union government. At Thanjavur, the ryots stopped the train from Mayiladuthurai, climbed over the engine and shouted slogans against the centre. A section of farmers brought mats, bed sheets and stoves and started cooking on the tracks.
They also laid plantain leaves on the tracks and ate the cooked food, delaying the trains including those carrying goods for many hours. The protesters, mostly farmers squatted on the railway tracks for about 60 kilometres from Poodhalur to Thiruvidaimarudhur, besides stopping the trains from Thanjavur to Kovil Venni.
In Tiruchy, a large number of farmers gathered on Kudamurutti bridge along the Tiruchy-Karur line. They set up temporary sheds on the tracks, tied the cattle brought by them with the railway sleepers, raising slogans against the BJP government. A speeding good train applied sudden brake on seeing the protesters and stopped for a few hours. On hearing information, police rushed to the spot, arrested the farmers and removed the sheds. In Cuddalore, police resorted to mild lathi charge when the agitating farmers and cadre of political parties tried to stop the Cholan Express.
CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan who led the train blockade agitation at Tiruvarur was arrested along with a few hundred party cadre and farmers. He said the agitations were a grand success in the delta districts.
He said thousands of farmers and activists of political parties are squatting on the railway tracks for about 80 km and movement of trains in the delta districts had been totally stopped.
He said more than one lakh people had been arrested and thousands of people are continuing their protests as police had not arrested them till now. He said the protests were peaceful and condemned the police for resorting to lathi charge in Madurai and Cuddalore.
Train services affected
As the leaders and members of DMK, VCK and MDMK staged rail roko, several trains were delayed at many stations including Chennai Central, Perambur and Basin Bridge.
Express and suburban trains faced delays while many trains were diverted. Thirteen express trains including Mannai Express, Karaikal Express and Lokmanya Tilak Express were cancelled on Monday.
Partially cancelled trains included Chennai Egmore - Mangalore Express and KSR Bengaluru - Karaikal Passenger trains, and five trains were diverted.
