Singhu Border, (Samajweekly) It has been more than two months since the ongoing farmer protests began at the Delhi borders over the contentious farm laws. However, there has been a major turnaround in the situation at the borders since the January 26 violence.
The views of the people of Singhu village adjacent to the border may be divided over the farmers’ movement but they are bearing the brunt and have been inconvenienced due to the closure of roads across the village.
Nearly 20,000 people live in Singhu village, some of whom have their own houses while most people in this village live on rent.
Due to the farmers’ agitation at the border, the Delhi-Karnal road is closed and the main road connecting the highway to the village has also been closed due to security reasons. Due to this the people of the village are very upset.
A villager said, “Earlier it used to take some time to go from one’s home to Delhi or Haryana’s Sonepat or any other place, now it takes half an hour to go from the village to the main road.”
People going to Chandigarh or Haryana from Delhi also pass through this village due to which the roads of the village are filled with vehicles and there are traffic snarls witnessed for hours together.
However, to prevent traffic jams in the village, the Delhi Police have appointed an official who helps to guide people about the routes.
On the other hand, people have differing views about the farmers’ protests, as some are upset with the protests while others are lending their support considering it as a fight for the rights of the farmers.
Rajpal, a resident of Singhu village who has been living here for the last 50 years, told IANS, “Every person is upset with this protest but we have not encountered any problems on behalf of the protesters. The traffic jam is causing a lot of trouble.”
“My son is the conductor of a DTC bus, he performs his duty. It is not safe to come here at night because of which he used to go by car but now he has started commuting on his scooty.”
Mahendra Singh, another resident of the village, told IANS, “The road in this village is one-way, only one vehicle can barely get out, if the other vehicle tries to move it gets stuck, how will one get out of this traffic jam?”
“If I want to go to Sonipat in Haryana, how can I go? I can’t walk so far on foot.”
Vijay Singh has also been living in this village for the last 40 years. He said, “There is a lot of inconvenience caused with this protest, I had to go to Narela but I had to go round the whole village.”
“I just want to ask the government whether there are only farmers in this country? Is it the duty of other people to also live like this on the same border. There is a problem while commuting, if we do not go to work then what will we eat?”
Vikas, a resident of Singhu village, said, “There is no problem because of this protest. The road in our village is closed which is the main issue. There is no problem with these protesters.”
According to the residents of the village, in the recent violence at the Singhu border people of the village were not involved. If their ID cards are checked, it would be revealed that they are not residents of Singhu village. “People from our village were not involved in the violence. The name of our village is being maligned.”
