Kurukshetra,
Punjabi poet Surjit Patar today urged the theatre artistes to establish a connect with the financially and socially distressed farming community in the rural areas.

Inaugurating the 3rd Haryana Srijan Utsav here, Patar said it was a matter of concern that farmers were committing suicide as their issues were being ignored by society and the government.

He cited the example of the late Punjabi playwright, Gursharan Singh, who had toured intensively in the Punjab villages to highlight the prevalent social challenges of the rural population.

“It is the theatre that has the capability to end the feeling of alienation among the agrarian section and checking suicides,” he said. The Padma Shri awardee lauded the members of the Des Haryana, a literary magazine.