Farmer protesting at Shambhu border dies by suicide

A farmer protesting at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana died by suicide on Thursday, PTI quoted farm leaders as saying.

This is the second suicide at the site in the past three weeks.

Resham Singh, a 55-year-old resident of Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, was taken to a hospital in Patiala where he died, the news agency reported.

Farm leader Tejvir Singh told PTI that Resham Singh was upset with the Union government for not addressing the grievances raised by the protesters.

Sarwan Singh Pandher, the coordinator of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Morcha and the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), told The Tribune that the post-mortem and last rites of Resham Singh will not be performed until the government compensates the family with Rs 25 lakh, offers a job to the next of kin and waives the farmer’s loan.

On December 18, another farmer named Ranjodh Singh had died by suicide at the same protest site, PTI reported.

He was said to have been upset over the deteriorating health of farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a hunger strike at the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana since November 26.

The strike by Dallewal, a 70-year-old cancer patient, is part of a wider campaign by Punjab’s farm groups to press the Union government to accept their demand…

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