Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers' stir: Fuel pump stations suffer losses at Singhu border

The ongoing farmers' protest along the Delhi borders against the farm laws has started affecting the business operations of the fuel pump stations located in the areas.Petrol pumps located near the Singhu border have been closed since November 26 last year, the day the farmers' agitation began.The fuel stations are estimated to be losing lakhs of rupees everyday. The lack of business is now impacting the salaries of the employees working at the pump stations. As business is nil, the employees' are getting only half of their salaries. There are six petrol pumps on the Singhu border, which are completely closed. In at least 52 days, all the petrol pumps have lost crores of rupees.A staffer of a petrol pump said: "Currently, the pump station has been completely shut since November 26. The workers are waiting for the farmers' agitation to end soon." Even after nine rounds of talks between the government and the farmers, no positive conclusion has been achieved. The petrol pump staff believes that if no solution is attained soon, their problems would further rise.Rajendra Singh, the manager of Om Service Station petrol pump located at Singhu Border, told IANS: "There has been a loss of about 40 lakh rupees in 52 days so far. Unless the traffic is normalised on this route, we would be facing lots of challenges.""We have about 35 employees at this pump and the protest has started showing an impact on the salaries. We have paid the salaries for now, but in case the situation remains similar, we cannot say if we would be able to pay them or not."Supervisor of the Bharat Service Station, Ram Prasad told IANS: "Not a single litre of oil has been sold since November 26. How will the owners pay salaries to the employees if the oil is not sold?""A total of 44 workers are currently working at the pump station. All are hopeful that a solution is found soon and the pump starts again," says Prasad.The employees working at the pump station have now started fearing about the loss of jobs in case the agitation continues. The next round of talks between the farmers' leaders and the government will be held on January 19. And the employees are praying that the agitation comes to an end and their business starts again. Even as the businesses around the Delhi borders are feeling the impact of the agitation, the farmers seem to be unrelenting and steadfast on their demands.The Parliament passed the Farmer Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Price Assurance and Agricultural Services Agreement Act 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act last year.The farmers are demanding the repeal of the three Acts. — IANS

The Tribune

2021-01-17

New Delhi