After massage centers and gyms, farmers construct brick houses at Singhu Border amid protests

After braving the Delhi winter in the back of their trucks, farmers are making brick houses at Singhu to prepare for the scorching summer

For 106 days, Singhu Border has harboured farmers from Punjab and Haryana as they protest against the Centre's farm laws. In an attempt to make it feel like home, the agitating farmers have made the border into a mini village or a 'pind'.

Brick houses or 'pucca' houses are the latest addition to the protest site. Farmers are graduating from living and sleeping in trolleys attached to their tractors, which they used as shelters to brave the winter of Delhi in the past three months. As the scorching summer heat awaits, permanent housing arrangements are being made. These houses can be seen a few kilometres ahead of the protest site at Singhu border.

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Since the protest began on November 26, 2020, farmers have moulded Singhu border into a place suitable for a prolonged stay. Among the protesting farmers was Mangat Singh, former Captain of the Indian Kabaddi team, who opened a 'gym ka langar' or an open-for-all gymnasium. The idea behind this facility was that anyone who wanted to be a part of the protest but also did not want to give up their fitness routine could join. It was stacked with equipment such as dumbells.

On December 11, 2020, charity organisation Khalsa Aid created a makeshift massage centre for the farmers with massage chairs for their "farmer brothers and sisters who were experiencing pain."

Doctors' clinics, soup kitchens and community spaces have come up in the protest sites during the protests.

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The ongoing farmer protest shows no signs of slowing down and the construction of permanent structures is another way in which the farmers are showing their unwillingness to move from the border till their demands are met.