Ground zero of Gujjar protests faces acute water crisis

The weeklong protests by Gujjar community which began from here left the epicentre of the violent agitation reeling under acute water crisis.

Dausa (Rajasthan), June 4 : The weeklong protests by Gujjar community which began from here left the epicentre of the violent agitation reeling under acute water crisis.

Water supplies to the town have been snapped for the past six days.

"There is no water for the last 5- 6 days in 23-24 blocks of the city. Three days earlier we saw reports in the newspaper that district collector has ordered supply of water in every block in the town through 5-6 water tankers. Not a single water tank has arrived here since the news came in the paper," said Ajay Jaiswal, a local resident.

Dausa was the launch pad of the seven-day violent agitation by ethnic Gujjars demanding special government privileges that took the lives of close to 30 people.

The chief of the town's civic body says despite taking up the issue with the District administration, no action has been taken to restore the supplies, except sending just six water tankers, which was far below the daily demand.

"The water supply in the Dausa city is disrupted since last five days. I went to the Collector with all the members to complaint about the problem and he gave us five tankers but they are not enough for a big city like this," said Savitri Devi Mishra, Chairman, Municipal Corporation of Dausa.

On Monday Gujjar agitators blocked some highways leading to New Delhi clashing with police and burning two buses.

They also disrupted rail traffic near New Delhi and in neighbouring Uttarradesh, where they even attacked a passenger train, Porbander Express in Merrut injuring 24 people.

Army today deployed two more columns of personnel along the Agra-Jaipur highway where the total number of army column has risen to 33. Another six columns have been kept as stand-by along Delhi-Jaipur highway.

The agitators had blocked the main highway connecting Jaipur, bringing road communication to almost a standstill.

However, after the Gujjar's stand-off came to an end in the evening with the Rajasthan government announcing constitution of a three-member committee to look into the community's demand of Scheduled Tribe status to reap the benefits of reservation in government jobs, the people are feeling relieved that the situation would improve from Tuesday.

The protests by the Gujjars led to the death of 25 people, but there are reports suggesting that at least 30 people may have been killed.

Several have been injured in the clashes since they first broke out on May 29 after the Gujjars forwarded a demand to be declared a Scheduled Tribe (ST).

The demand has been opposed by the Meena community, which falls in the ST category, leading to violent clashes between the two communities.

Gujjars claim that the Rajasthan BJP Government had promised them ST status when they came to power in 2003.

The agitators had called for the immediate resignation of the Raje. They also demanded a CBI probe into the incidents of police firing in which 'innocent' Gujjars were killed.

ANI