Violence bleeds Rajasthan's revenue stream

JAIPUR: Violence fuelled by the Gurjar community in the state during the last two days may have dented the exchequer badly, with the industry estimating revenue losses to run into crores of rupees.

Disruption of traffic on the Jaipur-Delhi and Bharatpur-Jaipur national highways, which handle bulk of the traffic from the country's north to the west, has not only affected commercial activities in Rajasthan, but also in distant Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

According to the Federation of Rajasthan Trade and Industry (FORTI), the loss of revenue per day for the government is estimated to be nearly Rs five crore.

FORTI General Secretary Prem Biyani said that of the Rs 5,000 crore tax revenue per year, 35 per cent is generated in Jaipur alone, accounting for Rs 1,800 core per annum. Thus, a day's disruption of commerce causes a loss of nearly Rs five crore.

Jaipur Transport Association President Kailash Khandelwal said that traffic between Delhi and Mumbai had been severely affected.

The situation in Bharatpur-Jaipur-Kota sections, as also in some other main routes, were no different. As many as 9,000 trucks are stranded at various national highways as squatters refuse to clear traffic.

Members of the Gurjar community, which falls in Other Backward Classes, have been protesting for the last two days demanding that they be classified as Scheduled Tribes as such a move will give them an edge in education and government jobs that are reserved for the socially underprivileged.

Fourteen people have been killed in clashes after the protests turned violent.