Farmers busy in fields, but keep supplying ration

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, June 28

Villagers residing near the Tikri border continue to support protesting farmers, even as the number of locals at the protest site has dwindled because of paddy transplantation.

From water to vegetables and from lemon juice to “lassi”, villagers are making their contribution to the protest though they can be presnt physically.

Kuldeep from Bhiwani’s Mundhal village and Sushil from Dhanana village on Sunday brought a vehicle loaded with vegetables and lemon water to Tikri.

“Dhanana, Talu, Badesra, Ghuskani, Sukhpura, Mitathal and Mundhal villages in Bhiwani district have been supplying milk and vegetables to farmers at Tikri since the start of the protest seven months ago. Every village has fixed a day in a week to supply vegetables to the border. The expenses are shared by villagers,” Sushil said, adding the support would continue till the time the agitation would continue.

Gurchant Singh of Bathinda (Punjab) said “lassi” was supplied by residents of Rohad village, while another farmer Ajaib Singh said RO water was being provided by people of nearby villages.

Gurbaksh Singh from Mansa said, “Locals provide us with toothpastes, brushes, soaps and other household items. They keep asking us about our needs and have shared their contact numbers in case of emergency.”

Virendra Hooda, national general secretary, BKU (Kisan Sarkar), refused to accept that the number of locals was dwindling. “Paddy and bajra cultivation is in progress. So, several local farmers are busy in their fields, but they have sent members of their families to the border to keep up the momentum.”

Caption: People from Bhiwani give vegetables to farmers at Tikri on Sunday. Photo: Sumit Tharan