Gurjars to decide Monday on Delhi shutdown

New Delhi: Gujjar leaders in the capital will decide Monday on giving a call for Delhi shutdown in support of the agitation launched by them in Rajasthan to press for their demand for affirmative action for the community. A group of Gujjar leaders held a meeting Sunday at Haryana MP and prominent Gujjar leader Avtar Singh Bharana's residence here and discussed the possibility of giving a call for a Delhi bandh (shutdown) and blocking the entry of goods to the capital.

A final decision on calling a general strike Delhi and the future course of action regarding the stir will be taken Monday, Bharana told IANS. After the hour-long meeting, Bharana also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the killings of over 20 people in Rajasthan in police firing during the stir by his community last week. Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership in Rajasthan of going back on their 2003 poll promise to give Gurjars Schedule Tribe status that would enable them to get a larger share of education and employment opportunities, Bharana exhorted the state government to send its recommendation to the central government to include Gurjars in the Scheduled Tribe list at the earliest.

The Gujjar community in Rajasthan had given a call for road blockade Tuesday to press for the demand. The agitation, however, took a violent turn, leaving 14 people dead in clashes and police firing. The toll rose to 25 though the state was relatively peaceful since Friday evening. Meanwhile, agitators refrained from holding demonstrations in Delhi Sunday and there were no reports of clashes here wither.

Railway authorities, however, were forced to cancel eight trains passing through the stir-hit regions of Rajasthan and adjoining states. The three trains cancelled in the North-Western Railway zone included the Ajmer-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Jaipur-Gwalior Express and Jaipur-Sealdah Special, the railways said in a release here. The three other trains cancelled by Northern Railway were - the New Delhi-Ajmer Shatabdi Express, Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Jodhpur/Bikaner, Bareilly-Bhuj Express and Dehradun-Okha Express. North Central Railway cancelled the Gwalior-Jaipur Express.

The railways had to partially cancel three more trains and divert three others. The partially cancelled included the Jaipur-Jammu Tawi Express, Jodhpur-Sawai Madhopur Express and Jaipur-Jabalpur Express. The trains that were diverted are: the Jaipur-Pune Holiday Special, Jodhpur-Banaras Express and New Delhi-Ahmedabad Rajdhani. To restore the Delhi-Jaipur link, two additional services have been introduced between Rewari and Jaipur on the meter gauge section via Rewari-Narnol-Ringus-Jaipur, the release added.

The Delhi-Jaipur road-link continued to be disrupted for the sixth day. People were waiting at the Bikaner House here, the office of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation, to take buses to the state but no bus left for Jaipur Sunday.