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Tired of the ongoing fortnight-long Gujjar agitation over its demand to grant Scheduled Tribe status to Gujjars, the Centre has asked the Rajasthan government to solve the issue on its own.

The peace talk was dashed on Saturday when the two sides deadlocked over the choice of venue for crucial talks.

Vasundhra Raje government rejected the Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti`s proposal of Bayana as the venue for the meeting. But, the Samiti insisted that Bayana be the venue for the talks.

The government conveyed its decision that talks will be held only in Jaipur in a letter to Samiti patron Kirori Singh at Piloopura village in Bharatpur district through the government’s chief negotiator S N Thanvi.

Centre said the state government to take its own initiative for granting the community de-notified or nomadic tribe status as Constitution enables the states to make such a provision.

The Centre also gave the example of Maharashtra government, which has implemented four per cent quota for de-notified or nomadic tribe long ago.

Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah send a letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje saying that as per the legal advice available with the government, the Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, enables the states to make provisions for reservations to nomadic and de-notified tribes other than the SC, ST and OBCs, if the situation demands.

“Since Constitutional provision already exist which empower the states to make special provisions for categories other than SCs, STs and OBCs, no amendment to the Constitution for this purpose is necessary or feasible, as any such move will be settled by a catena of Supreme Court decision on the subject of reservation,” the letter said.

Earlier Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of de-notified or nomadic tribe.

Tags: Agitation, Centre, Gujjar, Gujjar Agitation, Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje

After the Gujjar community threatened a “complete NCR roko” on May 29, a high alert is declared in the National Capital Region (NCR) by the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday.

Gujjar’s agitation is engulfing the nearby areas and states along with NCR. The Gujjars demanding for Scheduled Tribe status has threatened to block traffic in different parts of the national capital on May 29.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil reviewed the situation in a meeting with Special Secretary (Internal Security) M L Kumawat, where Delhi Police Chief Y S Dadwal was also present.

Gujjar’s five day old agitation has already upset the rail traffic passing through Rajasthan, tourism in Rajasthan and the routine life in the affected areas. Presence of a number of Gujjar pockets in the outskirt areas has become a matter of concern in the Home Ministry. The security establishment did not want to leave anything to chance in NCR on Thursday.

Due to the unrest, ten trains, mostly originating from Delhi, were cancelled on Tuesday. Police tear-gassed Gujjar protestors on Delhi-Jaipur highway and in Tonk district as the stir spread to new areas in Rajasthan with agitation leader Kirori Singh Bainsla asking Centre to intervene to resolve the issue of ST status for the community.

Bainsla has clearly said that he would settle for nothing less than ST status for Gujjars. He out rightly rejected a proposal of letter the Chief Minister to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent reservation for the community.

Meanwhile the leader is asked to appear in the Rajasthan High court on May 30 after the government charged the case of murder and violence on him.

Tags: Agitation, Delhi, Gujjar Agitation, Gujjars, NCR, Rajasthan

The burning issue of Gujjar’s agitation in Rajasthan demanding inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list got intensified when the Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla for allegedly violating its order restraining the community leadership from taking law into their hands.

Giving a stiff reply to stubborn Bainsla, Rajasthan government has filed cases against the leader including murder and damaging public property. The state government has also filed a contempt petition in the Rajasthan High Court against them. Bainsla is ordered to appear in the court on May 30 on a petition by the state government accusing him of violating the court’s order of September 10, 2007.

After four days of violence by Gujjar in Rajasthan demanding reservation in ST, which took away 39 lives till now, seems to be no end. The situation is getting tense and Rajasthan Government and the Gujjar leader both are stiff to their position.

The SP of Bharatpur told, “The situation is tense and we are keeping a close watch on it. We have proof of that the Gurjars have with them, identified criminals.”

Bainsla who rejected the letter that Raje wrote to the Prime Minister, asking the PM to provide 4-6% quota for the Gujjars said that “if there is nothing new in the letter, then it is a farce”. He also stated that the agitation will continue.

Bainsla and hundreds of his supporters are sitting on the railway tracks in Bayana along with the dead bodies of the people who were killed while police firing during the protest. Their agitation blocked several railway routes and disrupted the rail and road traffic.

The protesters blocked the national highway (NH8) that connects the national Capital Delhi to Jaipur and removed railway tracks in Bayana, the epicenter of the agitation.

Bandhs have been called in Banswara, Sangod, Khatauli, Rawatbhata, Beawar, Parbatsar and Deedwana. In the Chabra area, a roadblock has been set up and the Gujjars have threatened to cut off milk supplies in parts of Hadauti region.

Because of the unrest due to violence, Northern Railways has canceled nine trains, mostly originating from Delhi, passing through Rajasthan and diverted several others to different routes.

Tags: Agitation, Bainsla, Delhi, Gujjars, High Court, Rajasthan, ST

The indefinite strike by airport employees against closure of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports is called off today after a two day agitation.

Government ensured the employees that there will be no risk to their future as the old airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore would be used for general aviation.

“The (existing) airports are not being closed down. They will be used for general aviation (apart from defence purposes and national emergencies),” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.

The civil aviation minister said new airports have to be constructed in national interest.

The two day strike resulted into piling of a lot of litter on Thursday in many places on the airport, although flights remain normal across the country.

The strike didn’t effected the schedules for flight but the used coffee and tea cups, empty water bottles and waste paper could be seen littered at the Delhi airport and passengers complained of dirty toilets.

“Keeping in mind the interests of all sections, we will try to find a way out of the legal problems in the future, speak to the operators (of the greenfield airports), he said.

Waste material remained piled at the international arrival terminal and domestic arrival and departure terminals with the maintenance workers participating in the agitation.

But there was no such problem in the international departure terminal in any airport. AAI Director Narendra Kaushal told that ‘everything is fine and normal.’

The minister said the employees were apprehensive that with the privatisation of airports, the financial viability of the AAI would be jeopardised.

“I assured them that interests of AAI and its employees will not be affected. In fact, we will try to make AAI more profitable,” he said.

Tags: Agitation, Airport, Employee