New Delhi:
From fixing cars and tractors free of cost to serving sugarcane juice to doctors attending protests, Rantir Singh, a mechanic from Punjab, has taken up many roles to ensure farmers camping at Delhi’s Singhu Border for the last seven days can continue with their protest against the Centres farm laws. “My brother, Jaswant Singh, is camping at the Tikri border and doing the same. He too is a mechanic,” says Rantir, from Barnala district.
The duo are part of the thousands who have gathered at the two borders to protest against the new farm laws, which many farmers say will pave way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates. “It is ‘sewa’ (service) and we don’t charge for this”, said 40-year-old Rantir who is at Singhu border since Friday. Rantir said he has travelled all the way from his village where he has a garage. “I have already fixed 30 to 35 tractors of the farmers here at Singhu border. This is ‘sewa’ for which, we do not charge anything. I have also repaired two to three cars,” Rantir told PTI. “I have studied up to class 8 and started working as a mechanic since the age of 14. We have a tractor and have placed a loudspeaker on it. We do announcements thrice a day on the loudspeakers that if anyone needs a mechanic, then they can contact me,” Rantir added.
Besides, Rantir also serves sugarcane juice to the doctors who are giving medicines to the protesters. “I woke up at 4 am to help prepare ‘langer’ and then distributed to people. Later, I served sugarcane juice to doctors. I have come here along with farmers as I am also a farmer’s son. We will not leave till our demands are accepted by the central government,” he said. “My brother Jaswant Singh has also come from the village. He is at Tigri border and doing same ‘sewa’ there,” he said. Last Friday, hundreds of farmers reached the Singhu border of the national capital to protest against the Centre’s new farm laws. The day had witnessed police using teargas shells, water cannons and multi-layer barriers to block the protesters and the farmers pelting stones and breaking barricades in their determination to push through as part of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march.
Police on Thursday closed routes on two national highways connecting Ghaziabad to Delhi as farmers remained unyielding on their demand for scrapping the new farm laws and stayed put at the national capital’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The protesting farmers had on Wednesday threatened to block other roads of Delhi if their demands were not met.
