Punjab farmers install RO system at Tikri to purify water

Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Jhajjar, January 27 

Farmers from Punjab’s Patiala have installed a Reverse osmosis (RO) system at Tikri border at the cost of Rs one-and-half lakh to resolve the issue of potable water.

The system would purify at least 1,000 litres of water in an hour. Significantly, non-resident Indians (NRIs) have donated the fund to buy the system.

“Farmers have been facing a shortage of potable water since ever the protest started. Though many social outfits and residents of surrounding villages have been providing water through tankers it is not sufficient to fulfil the demand. Groundwater is salty hence it is not consumable. The system will now be able to fulfil the demand after purifying the groundwater,” said Parvinder Pal Singh of Alipura (Punjab).

Singh maintained the market price of the RO system was Rs two-and-half lakh but the shopkeeper sold it for Rs one-and-half lakh when he came to know that it would be used to provide drinking water to the farmers camping at the Tikri border in protest against the three farm laws.

“People of our state, who reside in the USA, Canada, Australia and some other countries, are in constant touch with the protesting farmers and they keep asking them about their needs and other arrangements at the border,” he said, adding, that the system would remain installed here till the end of the ongoing agitation.

Notably, the farmers are making the optimum use of technology to make the long haul at the protest site bearable. They are using roti-making and washing machines, water-proof tents and desi water heaters.