Farm laws: President Ram Nath Kovind declines meeting request, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to lead dharna at Rajghat

The CM on Tuesday said the protest in Delhi will highlight the situation in the state because of the suspension of goods trains by the Centre

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lead a sit-in protest at Rajghat on Wednesday to highlight the state’s “power crisis and critical essential supplies” situation amid the Centre’s alleged refusal to allow movement of goods trains due to farmers’ agitation.

Punjab is bracing for massive power cuts after running out of coal stocks in the state completely as a result of the prolonged suspension of goods supply trains by the Railways.

The chief minister’s announcement of the protest on Tuesday came after President Ram Nath Kovind turned down Singh’s request for a meeting along with the MLAs of the state to push for assent to the three laws passed by the Punjab assembly to negate the Modi government’s farm sector reforms.

The farmers’ agitation and crippled coal supplies to power plants, but Singh accused the Centre of refusing to resume rail traffic despite farmers’ organisations agreeing to allow passage of trains carrying coal and fertilisers for the rabi sowing season.

The chief minister said that Punjab had run out of coal, urea and DAP and other essential supplies due to Railways decision not to ply goods trains even after the farmers eased their blockade to allow such movement.

As the crisis resulted in complete shutdown of all power plants as well as curtailment of agricultural and vegetables supplies, the Chief Minister said, he had decided to hold a “symbolic relay dharna” at the Rajghat to bring the state’s grim situation to the Centre’s notice.

Singh appealed to MLAs of all political parties to join in the ‘dharna’ in the state’s interest, which was facing a grim situation as the last of the private power plants will also shut down on Tuesday.

GVK announced it will close down operations at 5 pm since it had run out of coal stocks, a Punjab government statement said adding that other public and private power plants in the state have shut down earlier.

According to a government spokesperson, the daytime demand for power was about 5100-5200 MW and night demand about 3400 MW.

Singh also accused Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal of refusing to meet a delegation of MPs from Punjab to discuss issues related to the state such as pending GST dues and suspension of railways.