Gujjars agree to talks on tracks, but continue strike

Gujjar protesters demanding 5 percent job reservation in government services in Rajasthan have agreed for talks but continued their agitation which entered the seventh day on Sunday, severely disrupting train services and road transport in northwest India.

The Gujjars agreed to talk only on the railway track they have blocked as part of the agitation.

A seven-member Gujjar delegation has reached Bayana to meet state energy minister Dr Jitender Singh who has been deputed by Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot for holding talks.

“We have demanded that at least for one year the appointments are halted in view of the court ruling. But we stick to our demand for 5 percent quota,” Gujjar Reservation Action Committee Convener Col Kirodi Singh Bainsla told IBNS.

“We have not yet lifted our agitation,” he said.

Earlier, the protesters blocked the Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Jaipur and Agra-Jaipur and other surface transport traffic to force Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot to come to the terms or face the music.

The agitating leaders had held talks with a three-member ministerial panel formed by Rajasthan on Friday night but nothing came out forcing the ethnic Gujjars to intensify the agitation.

The busy Delhi-Mumbai trunk rail route has been blocked since Monday as protesters led by Col Kirodi Singh Bainsla were holding sit-in at rail tracks at Pillukapura-Chhonkra level crossing in Bayana region of Bharatpur district.

They also resorted to dharna at the Manota level crossing near Bandikui blocking Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad and Jaipur Agra routes.