Farmers Movement Archive

Farm stir escalates woes at Singhu border

NEW DELHI: Niranjan Singh, a labourer at a steel and stone shop at Singhu border, is close to desperation. “I don’t know how I will feed my family if this continues,” says Singh dolefully. The farmers’ protest at the border for almost a year now has singed him. He used to take home Rs 500-1,000 daily before the protesters converged on the border in November last year. Right now, he earns Rs 100 a day if he is lucky, Rs 200 at most, because work has ground to a halt due to the agriculturists’ sit-in. Daily-wage earners and shop owners are facing the brunt of the inactivity caused by the farmers squatting in the locality and hampering road movement. Welder Nadeem, for instance, said "Kaam to hai hi nahi (there is absolutely no work). I was getting Rs 18,000 a month earlier. Now I don’t get customers for even a week at a stretch.” On Friday, the Supreme Court expressed concern at the continuing blockade of roads in and around Delhi by the farmers agitating against three central legislations, and shopkeepers and workers agreed on Saturday that the blockade had to end if the residents of the border localities were to survive. Manish Khatri has three outlets for branded clothes at Singhu border. He claimed a loss of Rs 1 crore due to the blockade. "I had to shut down one of my showrooms," he said. His brother, Rahul, added they had to lay off 5-7 employees because they were unable to pay their salaries. “We have also cut pays by 30-40% because our sales have been hit," Rahul said. Deepak, an employee, did agree and said there were days when no customers came. "The agitation shouldn’t continue,” he asserted. On Saturday afternoon, a few vehicles slowly negotiated the muddy, potholed highway. Traffic is almost non-existent. Raju, a local, had two empty buckets in his hands. “Earlier, I used to get water bottles at my doorstep, but the cans don’t come now and I have to go to the village for water,” he said. “Look at the condition of the road.” Arvind Chaudhary owns a factory making ventilation parts. “I can’t even calculate the losses after the blockade,” he said. “Small trucks that charged Rs 500 for delivery services today ask for Rs 3,000 for the same work,” he said. A mall nearby is deserted. The protesters use the parking lot of the mall for washing clothes and utensils. Satendar Singh, who claimed to be the owner of a petrol pump, declared he had suffered a loss of over Rs 1.5 crore in the past few months. “Business is down Rs 35,000 from normal every day,” he said. According to him, due to the traffic snarls arising from the protest, people cannot drive to the petrol pump and come carrying jars. “They ask us for petrol in plastic drums and containers. If we refuse, arguments break out, resulting sometimes in scuffles," he revealed. Meanwhile, many commuters also spoke about the tough time they were facing due to the farmers’ refusal to vacate the highway. "Every day, just because of this blockade, I have to travel an hour to reach my shop,” said one of them. “The distance of my shop is otherwise just 20 minutes from my home.”

The Times of India

2021-10-03

Delhi