3-4 temporary structures at farmers’ protest site idamaged in fire

Sonepat, April 15

Three to four temporary structures were damaged in a fire on Thursday at a protest site in Haryana’s Kundli area where farmers are demanding the repeal of the Centre’s three agri laws.

A fire department official said the cause of the fire is being ascertained.

However, farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa alleged that there was a conspiracy and someone had deliberately started the fire.

“Some farmers saw a man running away,” he said.

A police official said claims of the farmers are being investigated.

The fire was put out by the fire fighters and farmers had also assisted in the operation, he said.

Sirsa said that refrigerators, fans, cots and other articles were damaged in the fire.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping since last year at three border points of Delhi—Singhu, Tikri (along Haryana), and Ghazipur—demanding a repeal of the three farm laws enacted by the Centre in September.

The Centre says the new farm laws will free farmers from middlemen, giving them more options to sell their crops.

The protesting farmers, however, say the laws will weaken the minimum support price (MSP) system and leave them at the mercy of big corporates. PTI