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Gujjar protests continue, trains, road traffic hit badly
WSN Network
 New
Delhi: Gujjars in India continue with the protests, uprooting
railway tracks, blockading roads. Northern Railways was forced to
cancel a large number of trains passing through Rajasthan and
diverted several others in the wake of violent agitation by the
Gujjar community in the state, causing acute hardship to more than
half-a-million commuters.
Several hundreds of paramilitary troops and policemen have been
deployed to maintain order.
Railway officials said the trains had been cancelled in the interest
of passengers' safety since the protesters are targeting railway
properties also.
Meanwhile, the Centre has ruled out dismissal of the BJP government
in Rajasthan in the wake of the Gujjar agitation and violence,
saying it was not in favour of use of Article 356. Union Minister of
State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said the state government should
take adequate steps on its own to deal with the situation.
The
deadlock between the government and the Gujjars finally ended last
week with the families of 12 of the dead protesters taking away
their bodies for cremation. The protesters had sat with the bodies
in Pilupura village in Rajasthan state for the last 12 days refusing
to allow their cremations. At least 40 people have died in clashes
between police and Gujjars in the state in the last fortnight.
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Gujjars pray at Golden Temple
Amritsar: Accompanied by their families, about
200 Gujjars arrived in the holy city of Amritsar to pay
obeisance at the Golden Temple on Friday. Speaking to the media,
Nirbhay Singh of Jodhpur said the Gujjars would not end the
agitation. He said he wanted to be with the other community
members confronting the government but he was asked to accompany
the group on devotional yatra. He said a group of Gujjars was on
a tour of other religious places in the country. |
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The
Gujjars, a politically influential tribe spread across the north of
the country, are demanding job quotas.
They say they want to be placed on an official list of disadvantaged
tribal groups that benefit from preferential recruitment to
government jobs and educational institutions.
The
Gujjars said the protesters were shot dead by police and refused to
hand over the bodies for post-mortem. After days of wrangling
between the government and protesters, the Gujjars finally allowed
teams of doctors to carry out the post-mortems on the bodies. On
Monday, post-mortems on 16 bodies were done in the village in the
presence of thousands of Gujjars.
Last month, the Rajasthan government announced an aid package worth
$60m (£30m) for the community but this was rejected. Last week,
thousands of Gujjars gathered on the outskirts of Delhi, blocking
traffic on the highway that connect the suburbs of Noida, Ghaziabad
and Gurgaon.
4
June,
2008
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