The NCR experienced what parts of Rajasthan have been witnessing in the last one week as the Gurjar agitation spilled over to Delhi, Jammu and Haryana.
NEW DELHI: The national capital region on Thursday experienced what parts of Rajasthan have been witnessing in the last one week as the Gurjar agitation spilled over to Delhi, Jammu and Haryana, where one person was killed in a stampede.
Agitating Gurjars, who are demanding scheduled tribe status, blocked all roads and highways leading to the capital, bringing life to a standstill. They clashed with the policemen, hurled projectiles at them and faced a barrage of tear gas shells in return. While people preferred to stay indoors in the capital in view of the bandh call, Gurjars poured out into the streets in thousands in the peripheral areas, prompting the police to use force to lift blockades that had resulted in hours of traffic jams.
Many people coming to Delhi from Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad returned home. Some of the private companies located in these satellite towns also chose to remain closed.
Clashes erupted between the police and protestors who burnt tyres at Aya Nagar and on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road in south Delhi. Police fired tear gas and detained around 50 people.
Worst affected in the NCR were NH-24, which connects Ghaziabad to Delhi and NH-8 that connects it to Gurgaon. The situation began returning to normalcy in the afternoon as protesters started to disperse after shouting slogans against the Rajasthan government. Traffic was hit between New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, three cities that form Indian tourism’s Golden Triangle.
Vehicular movement in much of western Uttar Pradesh was also paralysed.Highways from Ghaziabad to Lucknow and Dehradun — the Uttarakhand capital — were blocked.
The situation in Delhi was serious enough for the US embassy to warn its citizens about disruptions in New Delhi, UP and Haryana. It advised them “to maintain a low profile and avoid areas of traffic disruptions and political protest”.
In Haryana, at least two people were killed and 10 injured following clashes between agitating Gujjars and the police in Patti Kalyana village in Haryana’s Panipat district. While one of them died in a stampede that followed a clash, the other died in firing.
Meanwhile, more than 200 Gurjars staged a protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Thursday against the police firing on members of the community in Rajasthan.
v_gyan@dnaindia.net
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