Thaindian News

Chandigarh, March 14 (IANS) Hundreds of Jat community members Monday squatted on the tracks and disrupted rail traffic in Haryana demanding reservation in government jobs under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, officials said.

Protestors blocked almost all railway lines in Bhiwani, Hisar and Jind districts. Many trains had to be either cancelled or diverted by the railway authorities.

D.K. Meena, superintendent of Chandigarh railway station, told IANS: “We have to cancel Gareeb Rath (Chandigarh-Jaipur) and some trains are also running late. The situation is more problematic in Hisar, Jind and Bhiwani.”

Hawa Singh Sangwan, state president of All India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti, said: “Haryana government is not taking us seriously. Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has not listened to us and he is not at all considerate towards our genuine demands. We are blocking various railway lines but our protest is totally peaceful.

“We are waiting for the government’s decision and we can also intensify our campaign in the coming days.”

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.

The protests started March 7, when agitators squatted on a few rail tracks but on Monday they increased the scale of their agitation.

Hooda had appealed to the protestors to end the agitation and said the state government has already forwarded their demands to the union government.

Jats, who are the major vote bank in Haryana, have been protesting for reservation for some time. A two-day curfew was imposed in Hisar in September last year after large scale violence and arson attack in Mayyar village by the members of the Jat community.