A dharna staged by hundreds of farmers, who blocked traffic on the busy Jalandhar-Jammu route on the National Highway as well as the railway route on Thursday for nearly 10 hours, was called off in the evening.

The farmers, particularly sugarcane growers under the banner of ‘Doaba Kisan Sangarsh Committee’ and ‘Pagri Sambhal Jatta organisation led by SAD leader Kamalpreet Singh Kaki, who is also the convenor of Pagri Sambhal Jatta, sat on the railway track and protestors also blocked road traffic.They called off the dharna around 7 pm, after the Punjab government agreed to their demands in writing.

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Passengers and commuters were inconvenienced by the dharna. Interestingly, a large number of SAD workers, who are also farmers, participated in the dharna against the SAD-BJP government. Congress MLA from Mukerian Rajneesh Kumar Babbi also participated in the protest.

The farmers demanded that the government should pay their Rs 700 crore dues from sugar mills. The state government, through Hoshiarpur district officials gave in writing that that all the dues would be cleared by September 15, while the mills will run from November 10.

Earlier, Punjab Cane Commissioner Ranjit Singh had given an assurance to the protesting farmers through the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, that their dues would be cleared soon but the farmers demanded a written assurance before calling off the dharna.

They also claimed that closure notices by the mills are illegal because mills have to give such notices at least two years before final closure.

Over a dozen trains that were halted on the way to Pathankot and some in Phagwara were diverted from Amritsar to Pathankot, which meant it took them seven-eight hours more to reach their destinations. Road traffic was also diverted from Dasuya to Hazipur Road.

Due to change of route, many trains on the main Delhi-Amritsar route were delayed. Nirmal Singh of Pathankot, who was going to Delhi for the medical treatment of his father, said that due to the delay, they will have to book a fresh appointment with the doctor.

Government Railway Police (GRP) Deputy Superintendent of Police Makhan Singh said as the routes of the trains have been diverted, it will take longer for them to reach their destinations.