The Centre has asked all state governments to ensure the safety of the public property and maintenance of law and order in wake of the nationwide strike call given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha for 10 hours which began at 6 a.m. on Monday. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been monitoring the situation and also was in touch with the state governments. They have been instructed to take strict action against the protesters or those who attempt to violate the public order, the officials said.
They also said that adequate central forces have been provided to the state administrations to prevent any untoward incidents and have been asked to intensify patrolling and deploy extra personnel at pickets at vulnerable points and public places like railway stations, bus terminus and airports as precautionary measures.
At a few places, train services have been disrupted as the protesters sat on the railway tracks but the local administrations have been trying to evict them from there to make rail traffic smooth, they added.
Barring these incidents of rail traffic disruptions in the northern states, no major incidents have been reported so far, the officials further said.
According to the railway officials, services of over 20 trains have been disrupted under the northern railway while some states’ transport departments have cancelled the bus services in wake of the strike call.
The Bharat Bandh call has been given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of many farm unions, against the three farm laws passed by Parliament last September. This strike call has the support of the many opposition political parties, including the Congress, DMK, NCP, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and the Left parties.