Locate missing farmer or face protest: Jind residents to administration

Tribune News Service

Hisar, June 12

Bijender Singh (25), a farmer from Kandela village, had gone to Delhi on January 26 to participate in the farmers’ tractor yatra. Over four months on, his mother Santosh Devi (65) is still waiting for his return.

Devi, along with other villagers and farmers, met Deputy Commissioner Aditya Dahiya at Jind yesterday demanding that her son be located.

“I kept my family going when I lost my husband 14 years ago. But the disappearance of my son has almost broken me. All my efforts to find a clue about his whereabouts have remained unsuccessful till now. I appeal to the administration to help me locate my son,” she said to the Deputy Commissioner with folded hands at the DC office.

Bijender had gone to Delhi to participate in tractor yatra with many other farmers. “He was seen joining a ‘jatha’ of farmers walking on the road after alighting from the tractor. But there is no clue of him after that,” Raj Singh, another farmer from Kandela, said.

Singh alleged that the government was not taking interest in locating the missing farmer. “He might be in jail or in some hospital with injuries. Even if some mishap has occurred, the family should be given a satisfactory reply. The village is upset with the government’s apathetic attitude on the issue of locating him,” he alleged.

BKU state spokesperson Chhaju Ram Kandela said that they have searched for Bijender at police stations in Delhi and Haryana. But the administration is not serious about tracing him. We have raised the demand for his search with the Deputy Commissioner, police and other state authorities. We have served an ultimatum to the Deputy Commissioner to locate Bijender by June 18. Otherwise, we will block the Jind-Chandigarh highway indefinitely from June 19, he stated.

Deputy Commissioner Aditya Dahiya said that the family members and other villagers met him over the missing farmer. “I will talk to the Superintendent of Police and take appropriate action in the matter. The administration will let the villagers know about the location and status of the farmer,” he said.

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