Rewari villagers start patrol to prevent protesters from returning

Local villagers of Rewari belt have started night patrolling on the Delhi-Jaipur highway from Sangwari Chowk in Rewari to Masani village near Dharuhera to ensure that protesters do not return to the vacated sites

Local villagers of Rewari belt have started night patrolling on the Delhi-Jaipur highway from Sangwari Chowk in Rewari to Masani village near Dharuhera to ensure that protesters do not return to the vacated sites.

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The villagers are also keeping a check on their base camp at Shahjahanpur to ensure that protestors do not move towards Rewari and set up camps there.

On January 27, panchayats of 20 villages in Rewari held a meeting and gave an ultimatum to protesting farmers at Masani, asking them to vacate by January 28.

Capt (retd) Lala Ram, sarpanch of Masani village, said that villagers of Rajasthan are supporting the farmers and are providing them with food and shelter. “Although we are ready to support them but cannot allow them to return to the earlier sites due to the losses we have already suffered. The protesters have damaged our field. We are working to improve them and make them ready for cultivation. We are yet not over with the cleaning part and it will take another week or so. As such, we want to be vigilant and do not want them to occupy the space again,” he said.

The villagers were unhappy with the way the protestors had vacated the sites without cleaning up. Teams have been formed which are patrolling between 7pm and 5am everyday. “We have asked the youth to take charge of the patrolling team but not to indulge in any kind of violence. They have been asked to inform us if they find any protestors. Further, dhaba owners have been asked not to entertain or give space to protestors to set up their tents,” he said.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 farmers from different parts of Haryana reached Shahjahanpur on Sunday and renewed their protest. They have taken over langars and tents, which were left by the farmers who returned home on January 27.

Satnarayan Nehra, the president of Nehra Khap of Haryana, said they had started a silent protest in Delhi. He added that some of them, along with other leaders including Rampal Jat, leader of Kisan Mahapanchayat, were detained by Delhi police on Saturday. “We were picked by Daryaganj Police from Rajghat and were let off late at night. Though, we had written to Delhi police commissioner but we did not get any permission,” he said.

Sitting on the main carriageway at Shahajahanpur, farmer leaders addressing the gathering, stated that they would not be moving from this site. They also mentioned that they will ensure that more and more farmers join the protest from villages across Rajasthan and Haryana.

Nehra said they are planning to visit the local villages in order to rally support. They need at least 3,000 more protesters at the site to show their strength, he said.