Haryana: Villagers hold Mahapanchayat in Sonipat over demand for opening Singhu border

By Amit Pandey
New Delhi [India], June 20 : A Mahapanchayat of 36 fraternities was held in Shershah village of Sonipat district in Haryana, adjacent to the Singhu border of Delhi on Sunday, where people from 12 villages of Delhi and 17 villages of Haryana asked the farmers protesting against farm laws to clear the blockade and open the Singhu border on one side of the road.
Locals also demanded that there should be no barricading by the agitators on all the local roads coming from KMP Expressway towards the border.
According to Hemant Nandal, who is presiding over the Mahapanchaya, a delegation would meet the Central Government and the State Government and will present its demands.
"If governments don't make a decision regarding the demands of the villagers within 10 days, then there will be agitation and demonstration in different places of Haryana.
In the Mahapanchayat, villagers also demanded compensation for people who were affected due to the agitation and expressed anger over the criminal incidents taking place under the guise of farmers' protest.
"Our endeavour is to take everyone along. We are not against the farmers' movement. We are raising our voice against the aspects which are causing us trouble. In recent times some people have been beaten up by the farmers. We will not tolerate it at all," said Nandal.
Notably, there have been allegations of burning a man alive in Bahadurgarh and raping a girl on the Tikri border recently.
Meanwhile, responding to locals' complaints regarding hardships, the farmers associated with United Kisan Morcha said that they are sitting on the road because the government is not listening, and will go off roads if their demands are met.