It has been less than 24 hours after 60-year-old Gurjant Singh, a farmer from Punjab died at Tikri border, another farmer, named as Lakhvir Singh, who was from Bathinda and was at the same border, died on Thursday. The reason of his death is suspected to be a heart attack. He was a member of the BKU (Ugrahan) protest group.
Harjinder Singh Buggi, another member of BKU said that Lakhvir was a part of morchas against farm bills since June. He came to Delhi on November 28. “He was on langar Sewa duty at Tikri border since then. On December 2 night, at around 12.30 am, he started feeling uneasy and came out of the trolley where he used to sleep. Later, he was taken to the nearby PGI Rohtak but he lost his breath on his way to the hospital.
Jhajjar Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Duggal told The Indian Express that the symptoms signal a heart attack, but only after postmortem is conducted anything could be said for surety. His body is right now at the mortuary in Rohtak. His postmortem will be conducted once the statements are taken and permission of family is obtained.
His son Jagjit Singh said that he had told the family he will be back to home only after the Central government meets all their demands. His son said that they are against the farmbills but losing his father is extremely painful. Lakhvir’s wife Ranjit Kaur was also a part of morchas in Punjab.
BKU(Ugrahan) Vice-President Shingara Singh Maan demanded compensation from the government for the kin. He said that his body is in the mortuary and will be cremated only when Rs 10 lakh compensation is given by the government along with a job to a family member and waiver of his loans.
This was the sixth time when a person associated with the farmers’ protest died in the last few days. Dhanna Singh (45) died when he was coming to Delhi in a road accident near Bhiwani on November 27. Janak Raj (55) died while sleeping in a car at Tikri border earlier this week. Gajjan Singh (55) and Gurjant Singh (60) lost their lives getting sick at the Tikri border.