Tale of two borders: Farmers not in sight, inconvenience to public common thread

NEW DELHI: Gudiya, just seven years old, accompanied her elder sister to deliver lunch to her uncle at the Singhu border. She climbed over the freshly installed concrete blocks twice her height to reach her uncle working on the other side of the barricades. The past three days were easier, but on Thursday the hurdles had been toughened.
At the Tikri border too, it was ironic that there were no farmer protesters in sight, yet the fortifications were boosted and an array of CCTV cameras were installed on traffic signage poles to keep track of any movement on the stretch.
At both the places, police bolstered the makeshift fortifications, keen to ensure that the farmers of Punjab and Haryana could not enter Delhi. The road connecting Haryana’s Bahadurgarh and Delhi’s Mundka past Tikri was sealed entirely, with only slender gaps left for the entry and exit of area residents. At Singhu, daily labourers, students and some commuters continued to suffer as walking across the border meant manoeuvring past obstacles like tall boulders and concrete blocks.
Things were quieter on Thursday than in the past few days at both the borders. But police seemed prepared for any eventuality. At Tikri, there were several concrete slabs ready to be lifted by cranes and put into strategic slots. Another truckload of slabs could be seen in the distance waiting to be unloaded.
On the Haryana side of the border, personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police occupied vantage points atop shipping containers. They wielded carbines as well as INSAS assault rifles to respond to any security threat. On the Delhi side, buses carrying personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force and Rapid Action Force continued to roll in.
Many curious residents ventured out and could be seen taking pictures and talking to the security men at the barricades. At Singhu, some curious residents greeted RAF personnel with a “Jai Hind” and asked them about the weapons they used to control the crowd. One jawan told his questioners, “We are using improvised teargas shells. They melt quickly after being fired and so cannot be lobbed back at us.”
While there were very few pedestrians at Tikri, perhaps because people have learnt by now about the blockade, and passenger vehicles too were rare, autorickshaw drivers hit on the idea of a share ferry between the two borders, a sorely needed facility for those trying to cross the barricaded entry point.
The autos at Singhu could learn from their counterparts in Tikri. There, people still had to walk with their baggage across the border. Students who live in the villages around Singhu but have schools on the other side of the border, were among those still feeling inconvenienced. “The alternative route too has been blocked. There is a third road, but it is very long. But we don’t have a better option,” said a student who lives in Tikri Khurd village.
Most shops have downed their shutters and the few eateries still open were frequented solely by security personnel. The impact of the blockade is palpable on the industries in the areas. “I hope these issues are resolved quickly,” said Manish, who works in a supermarket at Singhu, which was open despite a very low footfall. “We have heard that there are some meetings going on between govt and farmers. I hope things are resolved soon. Otherwise, like in 2020-21, even the factories will shut down.”
At Tikri, the Confederation of Bahadurgarh Industries claimed there were nearly 5,000 industrial units in Bahadurgarh. “There are 3,000 right where we are standing,” exclaimed Praveen Garg, president of the confederation, at the barricaded spot. Garg claimed, “The industries generate over Rs 50,000 crore annually and pays the central govt Rs 8,000 crore in taxes.”
Despite the loss of revenue for industrialists and govt, the blockade continues, a grim reminder to the businessmen and manufacturers that they must make peace with this unwanted reality.