Farmers Movement Archive

On a donation drive across country, two friends to now meet farmers

CHANDIGARH: Out on a donation drive to help the poor people affected by Covid-19 all over India, including 30 states and UTs, the two friends are about to conclude their two-and-a-half month road journey. They will now head to Singhu border to know the issues faced by farmers. Ahmer Siddiqui of New Delhi and Siddhartha Dutta from Bombay started their road journey from New Delhi on October 4 and planned to cover nearly 25,000 km on their specially-modified crossover car, which they named as ‘Road Ashram’. On their way back from Kashmir, they stopped at the city and will leave for Singhu border on Thursday night. They will then conclude their drive on Saturday in New Delhi. Both have travelled along the China and Nepal borders in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They further went to Kolkata, where they met some notable organisations and eminent people of the city, including the mayor. In Sikkim, they met eminent and influencing citizens, including Bhaichung Bhutia. They went to the Bhutan border in Jaigaon, West Bengal. Later, they travelled to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sundarbans in West Bengal, Orissa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Dadra, Daman, Gujrat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. While interacting with TOI in Chandigarh, they claimed that this unique drive was the upside of the Covid-19 outbreak for both of them. “We had planned this donation drive amid the lockdown and before officially starting on October 4, it took us around 10 days to set up everything. We know each other from past two decades,” said Ahmer, who drove the car all across the journey. When asked about the most tough days during their around 76 days journey, they claimed that it was in Arunachal Pradesh’s eastern most border at Walong, where they faced issues while driving their car for around 60 km as there was no road. Both said that all the money of the donation drive will go to the non-government organisation ( NGO) - Rise Against Hunger. In Chandigarh, the duo met Milkha Singh, The flying Sikh.

The Times of India

2020-12-18

Chandigarh