Last langar: Where’s the next meal?

At tents built near Delhi border, many farmers and supporters were served free food

New Delhi: Thirteen-year-old Aryan is now worried about his next meal as thousands of farmers ended their protest and wound up their langars at Delhi’s Singhu border. Like him, there were many who used to get food at the community kitchens set up by farmers and slept in tents pitched by them during the over a year-long protest.

On Saturday morning, a large number of children and local poor, including slum dwellers, had their last breakfast at farmers’ langars.

“We used to have our breakfast, lunch and dinner at langars here. This is our last breakfast today at the langar. Now, we have to either cook on our own or look for other options,” 13-yearold Aryan, a resident of slums in Kundli, said. Eightyear- old Mausam, a resident of slums located near the KFC tower in Kundli, said for the past one year, he had been having good food at langars. “My father works in a factory but since the family is big, we often have to skip meal of one time. But for the past one year, we used to have plenty of food at langars. We used to get it packed for home as well. All this will stop now,” Mausam said. The presence of farmers and their settlements also helped poor children in other ways as well.

They said they had no problem crossing the highway for their daily works, which before the protests generally used to be a tough task. “My school is located on the other side of the highway. Ever since farmers came here, I faced no problem in crossing the road because of no traffic. I used to have food here and then go to school. It is sad that they are going back,” said Tarun, 11, whose father works in a showroom. —(PTI)