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Draped in PPE suits, farmers carry out fumigation drives at Singhu
Karanpreet Singh, 22, a resident of Chaklan village in Rupnagar district of Punjab, was scheduled to get married on January 1
Karanpreet Singh, 22, a resident of Chaklan village in Rupnagar district of Punjab, was scheduled to get married on January 1. Instead, the young farmer has been at Delhi’s Singhu border for the past 50 days and is among the protesters who haven’t returned to their homes even once. For over a fortnight now, Karanpreet has a new duty – carrying out fumigation drives at the protest spot.
“What is the point of going back to our village if we lose our livelihood? We have postponed the wedding for now. We will not return till the three farm laws are repealed,” he said on Thursday while carrying a fogging machine across the protest spot stretching up to several kilometres. He is also a part of the security patrol team at Singhu protest site.
Farmers from the Mianpur village in Rupnagar district of Punjab pooled in money to buy the fogging machine. Surinder Singh, 37, who has also been on the protest site since November 27, said, “We had operated similar machines in Punjab during Covid for sanitizing and fumigation purposes so we knew how to operate it. The villagers pooled in ₹31,000 to buy the machine and it has been here for two weeks now.”
Surinder also said that they had decided to buy the machine after noticing the sanitation issues at the spot. “One of the major concerns that emerged during this agitation was maintaining sanitation and cleanliness. We have teams who engage in cleaning and sweeping of the roads. The fogging drive is carried out by the two of us,” he said. While the engine of the machine runs on petrol, the farmers mix diesel with the disinfectant to fumigate. The farmers insist that they have consulted with doctors in their village before taking upon the drive.
Every day, the two farmers wear a PPE suit and carry the fogging machine along the seven-eight kilometre stretch on the Kundli highway twice a day. “To operate the machine for an hour, we need at least 90 litres of diesel along with the additional charges of disinfectant which brings the total cost to around ₹6,000 per day. Other villages from several districts of Punjab and Haryana came forward to help with these costs,” Surinder said.
Chajju Ram, 65, a protesting farmer from Sisla village in Kaithal district of Haryana, said, “There are a lot of flies and mosquitoes around which caused discomfort and posed health risks. The fumigation has helped us.”
Officials from North Delhi Municipal Corporation said in a statement that the Public Health Department is also carrying out fogging and fumigation at the protest spot at regular intervals to check the mosquito menace.
