The protest morcha launched by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) outside the residence of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan in Sandhwan village, Kotkapura, continued for the seventh consecutive day on Tuesday, even as farmers deferred their threatened plan to block a railway track and a national highway by 24 hours following talks with the district administration this evening.The situation had turned tense during the day after the protesting farmers warned that they would block rail and road traffic in the evening if their demands, several of which they claimed had been verbally assured by the Speaker during meetings three days ago, continued to go unaddressed.With the threat looming, Additional Deputy Commissioner Keshav Goyal rushed to the protest site along with other administrative officials to hold talks with the farmer leaders and briefed them on the action taken so far on their demands.The officials assured the farmers that the administration and the state government were treating their demands seriously and that efforts were under way to have them resolved at the earliest. They also appealed to the protesters to call off the morcha.The farmer leaders, however, refused to withdraw the agitation, saying that most of their demands were still pending and that they had received nothing beyond assurances so far. Following the discussions, the farmers agreed to defer their plan to block the railway track and the national highway by one more day, while continuing their sit-in outside the Speaker’s residence.Farmer leader Kaka Singh Kotra said the morcha had been launched over a set of demands, including compensation for losses suffered by farmers during the agitation at the Shambhu-Khanauri border, the return of blank cheques taken by the Land Mortgage Banks (PADBs) from indebted farmers, and a complete waiver of farmers’ loans.He said that while the administration had acted on some of the demands, the majority remained pending. He warned that if the demands were not met soon, the union would not shy away from intensifying the struggle and could resort to steps such as blocking the railway track and the national highway in the coming days.ADC Keshav Goyal said the Deputy Commissioner was attending a meeting elsewhere today, which was why he had come to the protest site to speak with the farmer leaders. He said the farmers had been assured that the administration and the government were seriously considering their demands and that action was under way to have them fulfilled at the earliest.A heavy police deployment remained stationed around the Speaker’s residence and at key entry points to Sandhwan village throughout the day, as hundreds of farmers continued their dharna, raising slogans and demanding written orders on their pending issues.