Tikri: Farmers feel at ease as Kisan Mall comes up to cater to daily needs

New delhi: Libraries and malls have been set up at Tikri Border as the protest against three agricultural laws intensifies.

A bunch of students and activists from Delhi and Punjab Universities came up with the idea of opening up Shaheed Bhagat Singh library at the protest site. Speaking to Millennium Post, Navkirat Kaur a masters student at Ambedkar University said that the idea of a library has been brewing for a while and as a library opened at Singhu border they decided to do the same here.

"We have a few books with ourselves while we are mobilising other people to donate as well. This will be a place where anyone can sit and read peacefully," Kaur said outside a tent, which has been placed as the library at the protest site.

She further said that the library will only grow with time. "The library will be functioning throughout the day and will shut at night so that people can sleep," Kaur added. Many people come and read the library.

Meanwhile, Khalsa Aid on Wednesday set up a 'Kisan Mall' at the border to provide farmers items of daily use for free.

The mall is providing blankets, toothbrushes, toothpaste, thermals, sweaters, jackets, vests, blankets, oil, Vaseline, socks, washing soap, bathing soap, shampoo, comb, muffler, Odomos, dry milk, sanitary pads and shoes. Heating pads, towels, 'Loai', slippers, garbage bag, knee caps, tarpaulin, nail cutter, ENO and washing brushes are also available at the mall.

Earlier, farmers at Tikri Border were struggling with basic necessities such as washroom and food facilities, however with the mall opening, protesters are feeling at ease.

Meanwhile, many farmers camping at Delhi's Singhu border complaining of headache, cold, fever and joint pain prefer the powder handed out by Dr Mohammad Salimuddin, which he says is made of herbs, over pills offered by multiple free medical camps there.

At the camp set up by the Bharatiya Kisan Samiti, Dr Salimuddin's table is lined with boxes, containing powder, labelled turmeric, ashwagandha, black pepper and fenugreek seeds among

others.

For joint pains, he recommends a mixture of turmeric and ashwagandha, while black pepper does the trick for cold. "Prolonged use of these herbs can cure any ailment," he said.

"We have about 100-150 patients everyday, and most of them complain about cold, headache, fever and joint pains. A majority of the farmers coming to us are elderly suffering from knee and back pain aggravated due to the cold," said the doctor who has been practising herbal medicine in Hyderabad for the last 20-years.

When asked why he expects farmers to come to him, instead of the other medical camps offering modern treatment, a patient jumped in to reply, "We are farmers and we have always believed in 'desi' treatments more than anything else."

Thousands of farmers have been protesting at the Singhu border for over three weeks now as the stalemate between the government and the protesters, who are demanding a repeal of the three new agri laws, continued without any signs of a breakthrough.

Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

The government has repeatedly asserted that the MSP and Mandi systems will stay and has accused the opposition of misleading the farmers.(With inputs from PTI)