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Protesting farmers at UP Gate get 10 buses to serve as mobile shelters
Ghaziabad: More help poured in on Friday for protesting farmers camped at UP Gate when the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) sent 10 buses to serve as mobile shelters for farmers
Ghaziabad: More help poured in on Friday for protesting farmers camped at UP Gate when the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) sent 10 buses to serve as mobile shelters for farmers.
The ten buses, according to farmer leaders, can accommodate 25 to 30 beds each, comprising bedrolls, blankets and pillows, etc. They said the buses will prevent farmers from the cold as well as the rain, which have lashed parts of the city for the past several days.
“The buses have been sent by the DSGMC and will be here till the protest goes on. They will be helpful in protecting farmers from adverse weather conditions; the seats inside the buses have been removed so as to create more sleeping space. The buses will remain parked at the UP Gate protest site,” said Jagtar Singh Bajwa, member of UP Gate protest site committee.
Since rain started earlier this week, a number of tents as well as belongings of farmers, including rations, were damaged. Refusing to budge, however, they resurrected their tents and have stayed put.
More polythene and tarpaulin sheets have been added to the tents and tractor-trolleys to protect against the weather conditions, said farmers.
“The buses will be helpful for about 250-300 farmers and will protect them in adverse weather. We don’t know how long we will have to stay here as the government is not ready to accept our demands. Our leaders will decide upon the next course of action as the eighth round of talks ended without any result. Still, we are staying here no matter how long it takes,” said Rajbir Singh, state vice-president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
Farmers at UP Gate have occupied the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway of the Delhi Meerut Expressway since December 3 while the protest at UP Gate started on November 28.
The eighth round of talks between the farmers’ unions and the government representatives ended in a stalemate on Friday evening. The next round of talks is now scheduled on January 15.
All India Kisan Sabha’s general secretary Hannan Mollah said Friday that farmers would continue their fight against the farm laws till they are repealed, adding that their proposed tractor march on January 26, Republic Day, will go on as planned.
Farmers on hundreds of tractors took to the Delhi Meerut Expressway and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway on Thursday, to “rehearsal” for their Republic Day tractor march.
Government representatives on Friday meanwhile told farmers that they “cannot and will not repeal” the three new laws, though farmers have made it clear that their protest will go on till the laws are repealed.
