Farmers Movement Archive

Kolkata lends a helping hand to farmers’ protest in Delhi

KOLKATA: Help from Kolkata is pouring in for agitating farmers in the Singhu border. From reaching out to the farmers in batches to setting up langars and medical camps, members of the Sikh community in the city are leading the efforts to help the farmers who have been camping for nearly a month on an eight kilometre-stretch along the Singhu border, braving the intense cold. A group of volunteers is expected to leave for Delhi on Saturday morning to help the people camping there. They will be carrying blankets and winter clothes for them. The volunteers are running a langar and a medical camp there. One group of volunteers had returned from the Singhu border to Kolkata a few days ago. Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, who, along with his IHA foundation volunteers, is camping at the protest site off Delhi, said, “We are running a langar and a medical camp. We are providing medical support to the elderly, women and children.” Ahluwalia, who heads the foundation, added, “We have worked in adversities but have never seen something like this. When we tried setting up the langar and medical camp, we were never short of people volunteering to help.” Gurmeet Singh, a Kolkata businessman, will be part of the team that will be leaving for the Singhu border on Saturday. “I was born and educated in Kolkata. For many of us, our grandparents owned land in Punjab. Every year, a month-and-a-half-long trip to Punjab is a must for many households like us. There we are taught by our parents the importance of farming, our legacy,” he said. Manjit Singh, who had organised the first set of volunteers from Kolkata to reach out to the protest site, said, “There are several aspects in the new farm bills, which are not being brought to the fore. These protests will continue till these are repealed.”

The Times of India

2020-12-26

Kolkata