Gujjars block rail traffic, security beefed up

KARWADI (Raj): Gujjar protesters blocked rail traffic by squatting on tracks in violence-hit Dausa district as authorities on Tuesady tightened security in the affected areas by deploying additional contingents of para- military forces.
     
The stand off between the Gujjar protesters and the state government on the issue of postmortem on bodies of agitation victims here ended as their relatives decided to cremate them following conduct of autopsy on Monday night.
    
A large number of Gujjar protesters, including women, disrupted train  movement by sitting on the tracks at a bridge over Banganga river in Bandiqui area in Dausa district, where 14 people were killed in police firing and clashes on May 24, reports reaching the adjoining district of Bharatpur said.
    
To deal with any fresh spurt in the 12-day-old agitation led by Gujjar leader K S Bainsla, additional contingents of CRPF, RAF and other para-military forces have been deployed, a senior Rajasthan Government official S M Thanvi, who has been dealing with the ongoing stir, said.
      
He said the bodies of the 16 victims would be cremated in their respective villages with the postmortem on them being carried out. Autopsies were also conducted on the bodies of the victims in Sikandara in Dausa and in Sawaimadhopur districts on Monday.

In another development, BJP MP Vishvendra Singh from Bharatpur district and his MLA wife Divya Singh have come out openly in support of the agitation, Gujjar leaders said.
     
Meanwhile, a Northern Railway spokesman said several trains passing through Rajasthan have either been cancelled or diverted leaving a large number of passengers stranded.
    
The trains have been cancelled keeping in view passengers' safety since the protesters were targeting railway property, he said.
   
The train services have been stopped in Gangapur City-Bayana section in Kota Division, he said.