Sportsmen Are Out With Washing Machines, Doing Protesting Farmers' Laundry At Singhu Border

Sportsmen from Punjab and Haryana have brought two new washing machines and set up a laundry service for farmers staying put at the Singhu border, reports The Tribune.

International, national and state level players ¡ª both current and retired ¡ª take turns washing an estimated 2,000 pairs of clothes 12 hours every day at a humble laundry set up by them. They have set up the laundry service near the exit of a vacant, slightly decrepit shopping mall on the fringes of the farmers¡¯ agitation at the Singhu border.

Tribune

The set up consists of over half-a-dozen plastic water tubs that are used for soaking garments before and after being machine-washed. The collective also provides everything from hair oil and toothpaste to undergarments and shawls to the protesting farmers from their open camp at the Kessel Grand Mall, technically located at the beginning of Kundli in Sonepat, Haryana.

According to Prabhjot Singh Jhaj, a kabaddi coach from Phagwara, the collective has been offering its services for the last five days.

Tribune

Protesting farmers who have occupied over an estimated 3 km of National Highway-1 between Sonepat and Delhi¡¯s Singhu Border, he said, walk over to the camp, write their name and contact number on packets of clothes, which are washed and kept waiting for them the next day.

¡°Ours is the only laundry here so far. A few days ago, sportsmen from the rural part of our State [Punjab] and Haryana ¡ª hockey, kabaddi and the like ¡ª decided to do something to help the farmers, who set camp here over 12 days ago and we have been here since,¡± Jhaj told news agencies.

Young kabaddi players helping too

Young boys, majorly kabaddi players from Seechewal, Bagga and Rurkan Kalan villages, have also been catering to the washing and drying facility for protesting farmers. Mangi, a youth from Bagga village, told The Tribune, "We are using the open verandah of an eatery here. The owner has provided us with a motor connection for water supply. He has also allowed us to use his light bulbs in the evening and early hours. He even permitted us to use his power connection for charging our phones. So, we collected about 40 different sets of extra chargers from our homes and got them here."

AFP

Harnek Singh, a farmer from Malupur village of Jalandhar and a volunteer at the laundry service, said, ¡°When we came here and spent about a week, we checked on every small problem that farmers were facing. Their daily dilemma was how to manage with dirty clothes. So, we came back and bought two washing machines from here and started this laundry service.¡±

Other kabaddi players, including Sukh from Bhangal village, Manjinder from Seechewal village and Kanta from Pasla village, said they, too, had joined their friends to set up three counters of langar daily.