Thousands sign up from Punjab: Ahead of R-Day protest, drive to recruit volunteers

The drive is being held in rural areas of the state, where union members are carrying out awareness programmes for the upcoming event. Meetings are also being held with local panchayats to garner support from locals.

Volunteers are likely to arrive in tractor trolleys for the protest, and a meeting will be held by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha to decide when they should arrive.

“There is an unofficial call for at least 1 lakh tractor trolleys, but that is our minimum estimate. The numbers will be way more since many are eager to join. Talks have been inconclusive and we have plans for Republic Day. A database of the new recruits will help us manage everything,” said Jatindar Singh Pal, an IT professional from New Zealand who has been volunteering in the security team since the protests started.

On the first day of the recruitment drive by the Kisan Kirti Union, more than 3,500 persons signed up. According to the unions, most volunteers are men aged between 18 and 25. Organisers claimed the number of registrations will increase after Makar Sankranti and Lohri.

Last week, farmers across protest sites had taken out a tractor march on the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways in preparation for the main event.

Events this week

To mark the festival of Lohri, farmers have called for burning copies of the bills on January 13. On the occasion of Mahila Kisan Diwas on January 18, women will be leading the movement at the tehsil, district and city level and at the protest sites. The day will mark the contribution of women in the field of agriculture, said farm leaders.

On January 20, the occasion of the Prakash Parv of Guru Gobind Singh, farmers said an oath will be taken to make this “struggle successful”.

Meanwhile, the Navnirman Kisan Sangathan is set to take out a ‘Delhi Chalo Yatra’ from Bhubaneswar to the capital’s borders between January 15 and 21. Hundreds of NAPM workers have already reached the Shahjahanpur border in Rajasthan, farmers said.