Jats step up stir, to block roads too
Threaten To Snap Water, Electricity Supply If Demand Not Met In 3 Days
Dwaipayan Ghosh TNN
New Delhi: Jat protesters on Thursday threatened to block roads from Sunday, the day of Holi, if the government does not give in to their demand for inclusion in the 27-per cent OBC reservation regime.
The threat came as the misery of over 5.5 lakh railway passengers in north India continued unabated on Thursday. Jat leaders also said the community would be forced to “seal” the borders of Delhi and deprive the capital of water, electricity and oil if their “just demands” were not met within the next three days.
“We are on a non-violent agitation now. It should not be seen as our weakness. If our agitation turns violent, the government will be responsible,” Col (Retd) O P Sindhu, National President of Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti.
He said the current rail blockade would continue though the government has asked for three days’ time to find a solution to their demands. Railway sources said that so far a total of 654 trains have been cancelled due to the agitation. Another 231 trains have been short-terminated while a total of 401 trains were diverted.
“The total refunds have gone up to Rs 5.09 crore and a total of 7,47,264 people availed themselves of refunds,’’ said CPRO (Northern Railway) Manish Tiwary. The total operating loss per day is yet to be counted but conservative estimates from Rail Bhavan show the entire loss is over Rs 95 crore per day. A total of 56 trains were cancelled on Thursday and the number is expected to go up on Friday which is set to witness maximum rush ahead of Holi.
The railway authorities said the continuous blockade was putting “pressure’’ on railways to reach essential goods to areas near Moradabad and Hissar. “Thirty to 35 goods trains are being cancelled every day on each of the Up and Down lines. It is indeed proving difficult for us to maintain our rolling stocks due to the stir and the UP government has so far done little to try and talk to the protesters,” said an officer at Baroda House.
Yet again, it was the popular trains from lucknow which bore the brunt of the protest with almost all of them remaining cancelled. Even trains on the Kanpur-Allahabad-Howrah route were delayed beyond two hours due to the excessive pressure on the route as several trains were diverted through this route.
WAR CRY: Protesting Jats say government will be responsible if the protests for reservation turn violent