Thaindian News

Chandigarh, March 15 (IANS) A delegation of Jats, agitating for quotas in government jobs, will meet Home Minister P.Chidambaram and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik in New Delhi Wednesday, a community leader said. He, however, ruled out lifting the rail blockade in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Hundreds of Jat community members are squatting on the tracks and disrupting rail traffic in the two states since March 7, to press for reservations in government jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

“We have fixed an appointment with the home minister and the social justice minister. A special delegation will go to Delhi to meet these ministers tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We have prepared a memorandum that we would give to them and apprise them about our demands,” said Hawa Singh Sangwan, state president of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti.

In Haryana, protesters have blocked almost all railway lines in Bhiwani, Hisar and Jind districts. For the last few days, railway authorities have either cancelled many trains or diverted them on alternate routes that have caused losses worth millions of rupees.

Sangwan refused to lift the blockades and said that they would gradually block all railway lines in the state.

“They have only given us an appointment and on its basis we cannot end our protest. We would further intensify our protest and block all rail tracks in Haryana in the coming days,” he warned.

Power generation at the recently-commissioned 1,200 MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant at Khedar in Hisar district has been stopped for the last four days due to shortage of coal caused by the agitation.

Due to the disruption of rail traffic in Haryana, many trains crossing through neighbouring Punjab, especially in Bathinda and Ferozepur districts, were also affected. This led to inconvenience to hundreds of commuters, who had to travel to far-off places in the wake of upcoming Holi festival, in Punjab and Haryana.