After braving Delhi's harsh winter, farmers gear up for summer

After surviving Delhi's harsh winters, farmers agitating at the borders of the national capital against the Centre's three contentious farm laws, are now gearing up to battle the summer months with portable fans, mosquito nets and other necessities.

In light of the rising temperature in Delhi, farmers starting from Amritsar have fitted their tractor trolleys with nets on all sides to keep mosquitoes away and have installed electric mosquito repellants.

"Keeping in mind the heat in Delhi, a jatha recently left the Golden Gate in Amritsar with special arrangements for the summer months. Earlier, to protect ourselves from the cold, we used to cover the sides of the tractor-trolley with tarpaulin on all sides. Those have been rolled up and replaced by mosquito nets," Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said.

Lakhwinder Singh, district in-charge of the KMSC, said arrangements had also been made for water, portable fans and mosquito repellents.

"We have covered the sides of the trolleys with mosquito nets to allow wind and keep mosquitoes away. Electric fans have also been set up, along with electric mosquito repellants and Odomos," Singh said.

Pandher reiterated that the agitation would continue till the Centre takes back the three farm laws, and said that if need be, they could go on till 2024.

"The government will decide the end of the agitation. We can go on till 2024 if needed. They have been chosen by the people and if the government believes in democracy, they should respect the demands of the people. If they don't listen to us now, the people decide who the next government will be," he said.

"The struggle will continue till the Modi government takes the bills back and decides on the MSP for all the crops," the farmer leader added.

He also denied media reports about the dwindling numbers of agitators at Delhi's borders and said there are thousands of trolleys and lakhs of agitators.

"The agitation is growing across the country, not decreasing. All those who are healthy and able are going to the protest," he added.

Meanwhile, the farmers' protest, which began on November 26 last year against the recently enacted three farm laws continue as no new dates for discussions between the government and farmers' unions have been declared.

Several have been protesting against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 at Delhi's borders.

The implementation of the three laws, however, was put on hold in January by the Supreme Court.