Traders breathe easy as highways reopen after eviction of farmers
Binder Singh is elated. Every customer that comes to his fuel station in Patiala’s Khanauri is being offered laddoos these days.
He is among the traders whose business is back on track 13 months after farmers started a stir there against the Centre demanding a law assuring a minimum support price for crops and debt waiver.
Binder Singh says initially he supported the farmers’ stir, offering free fuel to farmer leaders.
His support to the farmers’ demands soon gave way to disappointment as the agitation prolonged for over a year. His fuel station remained closed throughout the period.
Though he doesn’t blame farmers for the losses he suffered, opening of his fuel station has come as a relief.
Similar is the case of several dhaba owners, who operated near the Khanauri and Shambhu protest sites.
“I lost all my savings. All employees working at my dhaba had left. I had to close down the business. With the highway now open, I hope that good old days would return,” says Suresh Dhingra, a dhaba owner on the Shambhu–Rajpura Road.
The distress in state’s business community on account of losses suffered due to the closing of highways is stated to be the cause of the police crackdown on farmers, resulting in their eviction from the agitation sites.
Farmer outfits, on the other hand, have rejected the charge that businesses accrued loses due to their stir.
They have squarely blamed BJP-led Haryana for blocking highways by placing concrete barricades and installing iron nails to stop them from marching to Delhi last year.
Teargas shells were lobbed at farmers to thwart their march to the national capital on several occasions.
A young farmer, Subhkaran Singh, had died due to a bullet injury during an attempt to march to the Capital.
Now, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema too has claimed that the opening of the roads will give a fillip to the state’s economy.
Rajesh Kumar from Patiala, who works in a pharmaceutical firm in Ambala, says he used to pay extra to reach his office every day.
“Similarly, hundreds of people from neighbouring towns of Ambala and Karnal visit cities like Rajpura and Ludhiana for work. Life had turned miserable for them as well they had to travel through dilapidated alternative routes, which was not only time consuming but also expensive,” said Rajesh.
Thieves strike at protest sites
The farmers who protested at Punjab’s Shambhu and Khanauri borders with Haryana are facing problems in claiming their belongings left at the agitation spots during the police crackdown on March 19 as several items have been stolen by thieves.
According to leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, who held a meeting on Saturday, thieves have decamped with laptops, Wi-Fi routers, refrigerators, air-conditioners, coolers, and inverters. Farmers, with the help of the police, recovered three trolleys from Lohsimbli, where these were found parked in a workshop.
Ghanaur DSP Harmanpreet Singh said, “A police team received information about some trollies found parked at Lohsimbli village. Upon this, the police team reached the spot and recovered the trollies. A case has been registered against Tinku of Lohsimbli.”
DIG Mandeep Singh Sidhu said nearly 50% of tractor-trailer left at the protest spots had already been handed over to farmers after verifying their credentials.
Meanwhile, a high drama was witnessed at Kutha Kheri village in Ghanaur when some farmers traced a trolley stolen from a protest site.
