An association of khap panchayats, which has been demanding that Central and state-level jobs be reserved for the Jat community, have planned to impose a blockade on the supply routes of essential commodities from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the capital.

Members of the Sarv Khap Jat Mahapanchayat, which had set December 15 as the deadline for the government to take steps to meet the demand, will also begin a march to New Delhi on Sunday.

“Community members from Haryana will block the supply of essential commodities from the state. Others will seize the supply of milk and vegetables at the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border,” Yaspal Malik, the national president of All India Jat Arakshan Sangrash Samiti, said. The turnout for the blockade, planned on December 23, will be huge, Kuldeep Dhanda, convenor of the Sarv Khap Jat Mahapanchayat, said. “Bishnoi, Rors, Jat Sikhs and Tyagis have been asked to join,” Dhanda said.

“The government’s decision to recognise the community as a special backward class cannot be implemented," Sharvan Dudi, district president of the All India Jat Mahasabha, asserted.

"The community's members must get reservations as given to those from other backward classes," Sube Singh Dhaka, vice-president of the Jat Sangrash Arakshan Samiti, said.