Rajasthan: Traffic hit as Gujjar stir continues

Vehicular traffic on two major highways in Rajasthan’s Dausa and Sawai Madhopur districts were severely hit on Sunday as the Gujjar community protested for the fourth consecutive day to demand 5% reservation in government jobs, police said.

Vehicular traffic on two major highways in Rajasthan’s Dausa and Sawai Madhopur districts were severely hit on Sunday as the Gujjar community protested for the fourth consecutive day to demand 5% reservation in government jobs, police said.

Hundreds of agitators blocked the Jaipur-Agra National Highway 11 in Dausa and Sawai Madhopur-Sheopur state highway in Sawai Madhopur district even as trains were disrupted or diverted in Bharatpur district as Gujjar leaders refused to budge from railway tracks, threatening to spread their stir across the state.

Representatives of the Gujjar community met Rajasthan ministers Rajendra Rathore, Arun Chaturvedi and Hem Singh Bhadana in Bayana on Saturday and accused the state government of not coming up with a concrete proposal.

“We are intensifying our agitation after the government failed to offer any concrete formula to provide 5% reservation under legal limit of 50%. Similar agitations would be launched in other parts of the state” said Himmat Singh, spokesperson of the Gujjar Aarkashan Sangharsh Samiti, which is spearheading the agitation. While minister Rajendra Rathore said that another round of meeting would take place on Monday in Jaipur, Gujjar leaders did not confirm whether they would attend the meeting.

Hundreds of agitators have been squatting on railway tracks at Peelu Ka Pura village in the district, about 200km from Jaipur, since Thursday evening since the Gujjar community renewed its stir after a lull of two years.