Farmers Movement Archive

Man breathes life into ruins at Singhu, builds home for family

When Amritpal Singh (35) came from Hoshiarpur to the Singhu border in November last year, his family followed him in the next 10 days. Since then, Mr. Singh has been protesting at the site. In the last few months, he has been staying with his family in a rented bus and a makeshift tent. Now, he has started rebuilding a ruined structure into a “new home”. In the last five days, Mr. Singh has managed to clean up the entire two-room area, create a bathroom space, cemented the floor, painted the walls blue, installed a bulb, and put up a trellis to keep mosquitoes away. He plans to shift to the new house by the end of this week. Mr. Singh, cable operator and small-time financer, had come to the border on November 26. He was living in the bus with his wife Rupinder Kaur, son Ekamjot (4) and daughter Jasgun (3)and another family till the first week of February. “The rent was expensive so the elders decided to send it back,” he said. Since then, the four of them have been living in a tent where the bus was earlier parked. But a few days ago, Mr. Singh spotted this ruin and decided to make it his new home — essentially to safeguard his children against heat and mosquitoes. “We have arranged a table fan as the tent gets heated up a lot. At night, we fight mosquitoes. We are worried that the children might fall sick,” he said. Recalling an incident when he first arrived at the site, he said that a grocery store owner offered him a place to stay above his shop but he refused. “I had told them that we are here to stay on the roads but now, we are worried about our children’s health,” he said. Talking about his new house, he said: “I am fixing the doors and doing all I can. Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he said, adding that he will make one room functional for himself and the other for people who wish to stay. He also plans to instal an air conditioner. With no plan to return home till laws are repealed, they have been looking for a school nearby for their son. “We had gone to a private school nearby. They have told us that the admissions are scheduled in April. If the decision [on farm laws] does not go in our favour by then, we will have to get Elamjot enrolled ina school here,” said Ms. Rupinder. Monday was Jasgun’s birthday, but the family wishes to cut the cake in the “new house”.

The Hindu

2021-02-23

NEW DELHI