Headlines
Gujjars call off agitation as Rajasthan agrees to quota
Jaipur, May 28
The Gujjar community, whose
members have been squatting on railway tracks and blocking road traffic
in Rajasthan demanding five percent reservation in education and
government jobs, on Thursday called off their agitation as the state
government agreed to their demand, a minister said.
"The
Rajasthan government will bring a new reservation bill in the next
session of the assembly to be held soon. We will see that this time it
does not fall to any legal hurdle," said Medical and Health Minister
Rajendra Rathore.
"We will try to have this five percent reservation listed under the ninth schedule of the constitution," he said.
The
agreement was reached after a four-hour-long meeting between Gujjar
Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti leader Col. (retd) Kirori Singh Bainsla and the
state government's three-member ministerial team - comprising Rathore,
Social Welfare Minister Arun Chaturvedi and Food and Civil Supplies
Minister Hem Singh Bhadana.
After the meeting, Bainsla said: "We
have decided to call off our agitation. I am now going to Pilu Ka Pura,
and will make a formal announcement there."
"I hope the government adheres to the agreement," he said.
The
Gujjars were demanding, among others, five percent reservation in state
government jobs under the special backward class category and that too
according to them in the maximum permissible limit of 50 percent
reservation.
The agitating Gujjars have been squatting on railway
tracks in Pilu Ka Pura near Bayana town since May 21. The agitation has
affected the movement of trains, including that on Delhi-Mumbai sector,
and movement of vehicles on the Jaipur-Agra highway.
On
Wednesday, the Rajasthan High Court had directed the state government to
remove the protesting Gujjars from railway tracks and clear blockades
on roads.