India

Protests by Gujjars in Rajasthan affect state’s rail, bus service, ‘diverted on other routes’

Rajasthan: As protests over reservation of jobs and education by members of the Gujjar community continue in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, more than a dozen trains have been diverted on the Delhi-Mumbai Railway line and the state has temporarily discontinued its bus service on the Agra-Jaipur route as a precaution measure.

Quoting officials, a report by NDTV said that some members of the Gujjar community have “occupied” railway tracks in Bharatpur where they’re protesting to seek reservation in jobs and education.

“We will continue our agitation till our demands are met and an order regarding it is issued by the government. We will not entertain anything less than that. Youth is unemployed, 25,000 jobs are stuck and nobody is talking about it,” the report quoted Gujjar leader Vijay Bainsla as saying.

Attaching a list of affected routes, Western Railways tweeted their statement this morning saying: “Due to the Gujjar agitation, the train movement between Hindaun city (in Uttar Pradesh) and Bayana section (in Rajasthan) has been stopped.”

Protesting for reservation since 2007, the Gujjar community is said to be divided into two factions – the Gujjar Reservation Committee led by Himmat Singh Gurjar and the other group led by Vijay Bainsla.

The group led by Himmat Singh Gujjar on Saturday agreed with the Rajasthan government’s cabinet sub-committee on 14 points following talks held over seven hours, the report said.

However, the group led by Vijay Bainsla has continued the protests.

The community has also been demanding for the backlog to be filled in the OBC reservation. And at least thrice in the past, they’ve been given 5% reservations in a special category, the report mentioned.

However, since it crossed the 50 per cent limit set by the Supreme Court, the high court has struck it down thrice.

The Rajasthan government on October 26, 2018, passed a bill that increased the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota from 21% to 26%

In December 2018, the state government approved one per cent reservation for Gujjars and four Other Backward Classes.

These communities are also getting one per cent separate reservation under the legal limit of 50 per cent reservation meant for the most-backwards category in addition to OBC reservation.

 

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