Farmers block highways, railway tracks



Farmers blocked major highways and squatted on railway tracks in many states, including Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, during the ‘Bharat bandh’ (shutdown) called by farmers’ unions on Monday to protest the new farm laws, media reported. The nationwide strike began at 6 am and ended at 4 pm.
Commercial establishments remained shut and the movement of public transport was affected in many places. The shutdown effect was felt the most around Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, the centre of the farm protests, and also in large pockets of Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.