Cots, LCDs, 24x7 kitchen: Farmers at Shambhu prepared for a long haul
Though it seemed that the agitation had fizzled out after the death of a farmer on February 21, a sizeable number of farmers have stayed put at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana.
On an overcast afternoon at Shambhu, 28-year-old Amrik Singh, a farmer from Mangat Kaer village of Muktsar Sahib, is seen covering his tractor trailer with a tarpaulin sheet. “Come rain or shine, we aren’t going home till our demands are met,” he says with a determined look on his face.
Amrik, along with other farmers from different parts of Punjab, had started a march towards Delhi on February 13 to press for legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP), a complete loan waiver and several other demands. Met with strong resistance at the Haryana border, where several companies of central paramilitary forces and Haryana Police were standing guard, the farmers were unable to make it past the state border. In the clashes that followed between the forces and protesters, one farmer was killed, and several others were left injured.
Though it seemed that the agitation had fizzled out after the death of a farmer on February 21, a sizeable number of farmers have stayed put at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana.
As per Punjab Intelligence Bureau’s estimates, around 7,000-8,000 farmers continue to be at the Shambhu border.
“Just a month has passed, we are prepared to sit for at least 12 more. Last time (during the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation), we protested for 13 months,” said Amrik.
BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh leader, Tejvir Singh said, “The protest is on. Usually, protests as big as this see some ups and downs. We have already lost seven of our men but our community continues to be disciplined.”
Jaswinder Singh, 55, of Kaboolpura village in Patiala, who was spotted watching news on a small LCD screen set up in his tractor-trailer, said, “We are prepared for a long haul. We have made arrangements to carry on with our routine life here.”
Many farmers have also put up table fans, bulbs and wooden cots in their trailers, turning it into a makeshift home.
To wash clothes, free washing machine service is also available. For health-related emergencies, various NGOs – including Khalsa Aid – have set up mini-health centres that provide medicines and first-aid.
As to food, round-the-clock langar (community kitchen) services are available at many places on a three-kilometre stretch on the National Highway.
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha convener Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “As we have decided to continue our protest at Shambhu and Khanauri, we have made all arrangements at the protest sites.”
