Court officials on Monday stopped a train in Karnataka after the Indian Railways failed to compensate a farmer for the land they had acquired from him a decade ago. The Mysuru-bound Siddaganga Intercity Express was ferrying more than a hundred passengers when it was stopped at Harihar Station in central Karnataka's Davanagere district, The Times of India reported.
The move to "seize the train" was in compliance with a court order in a case filed by AG Shivakumar. The 62-year-old farmer had approached a local court after the Railways failed to pay him for his one-acre plot, which was acquired in 2006 to build a track for the express train. The Railways had assured him compensation of Rs 36 lakh, but had ignored a 2013 court order, too, which had directed the authority to pay the farmer the amount with interest, BBC reported.
The train was allowed to leave the station only after the Railways gave in writing that Shivakumar would get his compensation within a week. "The [railway] officials gave an undertaking to the court that the amount will be given in one week's time, and the train was allowed to leave after about 100 minutes," Shivakumar's lawyer KGS Patil said.
This is the second such incident in the state in which a train was seized after the Railways failed to compensate farmers for the land they lost to projects. A similar incident took place in Himachal Pradesh earlier this year, according to The Times of India.
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