100-year-old mother in shock after son’s death

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 16

He owned merely an acre of land, but ever since the farmer agitation started, he has been willing to spend nights at the Delhi border.

The death of 72-year-old Pal Singh of Bhadson has left his 100-year-old mother devastated, as she has already lost her five sons and is now left with just one and an acre of land.

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Amarjit Kaur, Pal Singh's mother

Owned 1-acre land

Kissani layi sacha si oh. Ik acre wich vi bahut khush. Mainu bahut yaad ayu oh (He was always true to farming. Even happy with just one acre. I will miss him).

"

Pal Singh died at the Singhu border following a suspected heart attack after he went back to his makeshift night shelter in a tractor-trolley late on Tuesday evening. An active member of the Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal), he was into farming since his childhood. He is survived by his son Mandeep Singh.

"Last week, Pal Singh was adamant to go on a bicycle and we had to literally forcibly plead to him to leave with other farmers, going two days later. Only when we told him that he won't be able to take ration items so far to Delhi border, he agreed," Mandeep said, adding: "My father had spent his savings of around Rs 4,500 to buy ration and took another Rs 2,500 to contribute to the agitation."

In another corner of his two-room kutcha house, nearby his one acre fields, Pal Singh's 100-year-old mother Amarjit Kaur is shocked to hear the death of her fifth of the six sons. "Only a mother can understand the pain of losing her sons while she is alive. Pal's death is heartbreaking. Kissani layi sacha si oh. Ik acre wich vi bahut khush. Mainu bahut yaad ayu oh (He was always true to farming. Even happy with just one acre of land and barely able to make both ends meet. I will miss him," Amarjit said.

"Pal Singh was worried that he would not be able to even till his own land if the new Acts are implemented. If the Centre has better plans, it should explain it to the farmers rather than allowing them to die," a family member said. Meanwhile, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has announced Rs 1 lakh for the family. This is the fourth death of a farmer from Patiala.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3gUFaPz