About 6 km into Haryana from the protest site is a small hotel, which has opened its doors for protesting farmers – especially women — and offered them rooms and a hall for free.
Mandeep Khapra (25), owner of Hotel Sudhir in Kundli, said being a farmer’s son, he considers the protesting farmers as his extended family. Mr. Khapra said, “This, I feel, is the least we can do for the old women who have come here. They are all like my mother.”
The 20-room hotel has offered two halls and four-five rooms, along with bathrooms and toilets, to the farmers. Mr. Khapra said that it gets cold in the night and the women need to use toilets. “When the farmers came on November 26, we asked them to park their trucks here. Then we saw women were also there. Initially, we asked women to stay in the rooms and eventually, we opened halls for men as well,” he said, adding that about 60-70 people were currently living there and the hotel is arranging for more.
Mr. Khapra said that he and his team are also sometimes providing tea and food to the protesters. “We will continue providing them a place to stay till they decide to leave the place,” he said.
Jaswant Kaur (65), who is staying at the hotel, said: “The son here has been very considerate. We are not facing any problem.” .
“We are old but we were prepared for the worst living conditions. We are still washing clothes and cooking in the open, but at least we can now bathe and use toilets,” said Baldev Kaur (66) from Sangrur.
