Farmers Movement Archive

Winter delight for some as farmers at Singhu border donate leftovers

NEW DELHI: Roshan, a factory worker in Narela, along with his wife and sister, spent hours at Singhu border collecting leftover dry rations and fruits, bamboo poles, cots and tarpaulin sheets from farmers. He said winter this year would be relatively comfortable for his family as they had collected enough bamboo and wood to burn. They were the beneficiaries of the farmer protesters, who donated remnants of their year-long habitations at the Singhu and Tikri borders to the locals. Sitting on a cot with his brother and daughter, teashop owner Sunil Kumar said, “The farmers served food to us during their stay at the Singhu border. Now, when they are leaving, in another nice gesture, they gave us blankets, cots, tarpaulin sheets and bamboo poles.” Though the farmers donated the discards to the locals residing in villages adjoining the protest sites, many waste pickers and scrap dealers also arrived from Delhi. Tasleem, a ragpicker from Narela, said, “The farmers gave me the leftover iron rods, tin sheets and bamboo sticks, and my rickshaw is filled with the scrap items. I will make another visit in the evening to collect more things.” While a few scrap dealers purchased iron rods from the farmers, Inderjeet Singh, who sold nets and tin sheets to a Delhi-based scrap reseller, said, “We will donate the entire proceeds from such sales to organise a langar. We do not want to keep any money with us.” Ramesh Kumar could not hide his happiness as he gathered more than the expected amount of scrap material within an hour. A farmer at the Tikri Border offered to take down the bamboo cabins, clear the pavement and cart away all the stuff. “I live in a nearby colony and often visited the protest site where the farmers offered us cooked food and other eatables. Today morning, they asked us to take all the scrap material including plastic sheets, wood and bamboo provided we dismantled the temporary shelters they had erected. I might visit the place on Saturday also,” said Kumar. A little farther away, children happily carried away the dry rations offered by the farmers, who were packing up and preparing to leave the venue early on Saturday morning. At Tikri border, farmer Sukhbir Singh said, “We are elated as our long efforts bore results. We are going home so there is no point carrying back the food grains and other dry stuff. They will be more useful to these poor and needy people. We are giving away everything we gathered during the protest.”

The Times of India

2021-12-11

Delhi