Day after ransacking, Kaimla village counts losses

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 11

A day after the venue of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ in Kaimla village was ransacked by protesting farmers, the situation was returning to normal, with people hopeful of peace and harmony.

No loss of life

I am thankful to God that there was no loss of life on Sunday, otherwise it would have led to a war-like situation. Everything passed off peacefully. - Ram Singh, Karnal Resident

Some villagers were in support of the ‘kisan mahapanchayat’, saying the Chief Minister had the right to express his point of view. On the contrary, some villagers were against the programme, saying it should not have been organised in their village.

They thanked God that there was no loss of life, which could have prolonged the conflict between residents of Kaimla village and of other villages.

“The incident on Sunday was unfortunate as it should not have happened. It led to unrest, but after being pacified by elders, youths in the village were calm. Had any untoward incident taken place, it would have been dangerous for everybody,” said 65-year-old Balbir Singh of Kaimla village.

He maintained that the Chief Minister had the right to express his point of view and he should have been allowed to do so.

“I am thankful to God that there was no loss of life on Sunday, otherwise it would have led to a war-like situation. Everything passed off peacefully,” said 70-year-old Ram Singh. He said the government should have avoided this programme amid the unrest over the three farm laws.

Another local resident, Rajinder, blamed the police for remaining a mute spectator and the ransacking of the pandal could have been avoided had the police taken any action. He said everybody had the right to express his point of view.

The wheat crop of some farmers was damaged due to the faceoff. “A helipad was established on my fields. Due to the protest, the wheat crop on around two and a half acres was damaged. I request the government to compensate me,” said Balwinder Singh, a farmer.

Farmers Amarjeet, Lahna Singh, Bhim Singh and others also suffered losses. Dharam Singh, another farmer, said the government should compensate the farmers.

The event management company which had provided a tent for the programme suffered a loss of Rs 2.6 lakh as its public address system was damaged by protesters.

Nishant Kumar Yadav, DC, said he had sent a Revenue Department team to the spot to assess losses. The wheat crop on 12 acres had been damaged. “The government will compensate the farmers and the event management company for the losses,” he asserted.

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