Farmers Movement Archive

‘Jugaad’ helps farmers cut fuel cost as thousands of tractors head to Delhi

Ludhiana: Just as the rest of the world witnessed the resilience of the farmers, who withstood both natural and man-made challenges to stand firm on their demand, it also witnessed their ‘jugaad’ ability as they prepared for the tractor march. As thousands of tractors had to go to Delhi for today’s rally, the cost of fuel would have gone through the roof, but for the fact that the farmers found ingenious ways to cut cost. They are using different techniques to tow as many tractors as possible with one to save fuel. According to farmers’ union representatives, the average fuel cost for a round trip to Delhi with a tractor is about Rs 15,000.To reach trolleys faster to the protest venue, so that more people could be accommodated, SUVs and jeeps are being used to tow them — this means the could trolleys could reach Singhu border in almost half the time taken by tractors.Rajinder Benipal, state president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Punjab), who is sending multiple tractors to Delhi, said, “Yesterday alone, we despatched more than 2,000 tractors and trollies to Singhu border. Majority of the tractors sent were joined by “tochan” (towing support) with each other and were sent in the batches of three to four. This was done to save fuel cost. In the tractor rally alone, easily Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 worth diesel will be spent, as the tractor will have to run in the first gear. So these kind of interventions were necessary as we cannot afford to throw away such huge amount in fuel.”According to Daljit Singh Naunhali of Khanna, who led one such batch of tractors to Delhi, this kind of cost-cutting measures are pretty normal in the rural areas. “But people outside of villages are struck with wonder at the sight of one tractor pulling three to four tractors. Many stopped us to take pictures of this jugaad,” he added.Bhupinder, who works at a tractor workshop in Mullanpur, said, “There are a variety of ways being used to connect multiple tractors with each other, the most common being use of MS pipe with holes on both ends. By using this pipe, we can easily connect the back of a tractor with the front of the second tractor and similarly three to four tractors can be connected together. Once fitted, the tractors can move around easily together only with one engine running. The tractors hiked on to other should also have drivers, but. For connecting the trolleys with other small vehicles like SUVs or jeeps, hooks are used. When we ran out hooks, we started to weld them, that worked too.”

The Times of India

2021-01-26

Ludhiana