Let our business run for sake of our families, industries appeal to protesting farmers

NEW DELHI: The industries facing losses on account of the closure of traffic due to the farmers' agitation have requested the protesters to "let our business run for the sake of our families".

The 'Delhi Chalo' call given by the farmers has caused anxiety among the industries in Bahadurgarh, Tikri and Bawana Industrial Area (BIA) on the Haryana-Delhi border.

The businessmen of Jhajjar, under the banner of Confederation of Bahadurgarh Industries, have put up posters across the Tikri border and metro pillars in Hindi making a fervent appeal to the farmers.

The appeal says, "Bahadurgarh ke udyogon aur karmchariyon ki taraf se kisan bhaiyon ko vinamra prarthna - hamarey parivar ke liye hamara rozgar chalne dein (A polite appeal to the farmer brothers on behalf of the industries and employees of Bahadurgarh - let our business run for the sake of our families)."

Notably, the Tikri area of west Delhi is house to one of the biggest footwear manufacturing industries for which more than 1.5 lakh labourers commute daily to their respective industries for work.

Sources said during the last farmers' protest in 2020-2021, the industry incurred a loss of around Rs 20 crore.

Besides the footwear industry, the BIA also fears loss of business.

The BIA houses many industries such as plastic granules, stainless steel, clothes and nuts and bolts among others.

One of the industrialists, who requested anonymity, said, "Manufacturing cost increases due to the farmers' protest as they have to take detour at many places to supply their product."

He further said a meeting of all the businessmen of Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh and Tikri area had requested the farmers to understand the extent of loss a businessmen suffers due to the closure of roads.

Another businessman said earlier they had requested the concerned authorities of Jhajjar in Haryana and now they are planning to meet senior leaders of the Delhi government.

"The police are making their own arrangements at the Tikri border but local industrialists suffer huge losses due to the same arrangements. We had suffered huge losses due to the year-long farmers’ agitation at Tikri in 2021 as well," said Chandan Kumar, who runs a factory of rubber items in Bahadurgarh.

Kumar further said many farmers will enter Delhi through the Bahadurgarh-Tikri border. In 2021, the farmers sat on the border when the Delhi Police did not allow them to proceed further. Industrialists, traders and small shopkeepers had to suffer huge losses.

The restrictions in areas around the Delhi-Haryana border points, which have been fortified with metal barricades and concrete blocks to stop the farmers from entering the city, came into effect on Tuesday, the day the march began.

Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pensions to farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, withdrawal from the World Trade Organisation and compensation for families of the farmers who died during the previous agitation among others.