NEW DELHI: The railway ministry on Thursday said the ‘rail roko’ agitation passed off without any untoward incident and there was negligible or minimal impact on running of the trains across the country. BJP sources claimed that the agitation was “an utter failure”. “Majority of the zones have reported not a single case of any stoppage of train by the agitators. Few trains were stopped in some areas of zonal railways but later train operation was normal and trains were being operated smoothly. While dealing with the rail roko agitation, utmost patience was exercised by all concerned,” a railway ministry spokesperson said.
BJP sources claimed, “Out of more than 1,700 trains which presently carry passengers and 5,000 suburban trains, not more than 25 trains were rescheduled and that too happened mostly in Punjab. Farmer unions have called for four hours bandh, but it lasted from 2 mins to maximum 120 mins only. Train operation is normal and trains are being operated smoothly in the entire railway network.”
In the wake of the agitation, the railways had deployed 20 additional companies of RPF troops across the country ahead of the protest which was organised in order to pressurise the government into repealing the laws. RPF sources said in some cases, the agitators came to the station areas, shouted slogans and went back.