Under-construction bus stand now a Pb village

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, February 18

A bus stand under construction on the Sector 9 bypass at Bahadurgarh in the district has turned into a Punjab village. Protesting farmers have been staying in the building and the premises, spread over 7.5 acres, is dotted with tractor-trailers.

Basic facilities such as night shelter, clinic, dispensary, library, langar, RO water purifier and gym and sports equipment are available in the makeshift village. US-based cardiologist Dr Swaiman Singh and his team have been providing aid to the protesters.

Only 5 per cent of the work was left and the district administration was planning inauguration of the bus stand when farmers from Punjab reached the Tikri border over two and a half months ago.

“The death of a farmer due to the severe cold made us think about providing essential facilities to the protesting farmers. We provided night shelters for over 5,000 persons in the bus stand building by arranging mats and blankets,” said Dr Singh, heading the 5 Rivers Heart Association.

“A health check-up centre, with a super-specialist-controlled clinic and dispensary, has been set up to treat ailing farmers and provide medicines. Facilities of EKG, ECG, dental treatment and blood tests are available,” he said.

“Hundreds of books on various subjects are available in the library. A volleyball competition is organised every Sunday and youth are given gym equipment for exercise. Religious preachers conduct classes on Hinduism and Sikhism. A team of volunteers ensures cleanliness of the campus,” he added.

KS Pathania, Executive Engineer, PWD, said merely finishing work was left at the bus stand and it would take around 10 days to complete the work.