Fresh efforts were launched by the Rajasthan government to bring agitating Gujjars to the negotiating table after the two sides failed to agree on a common venue for talks.
BAYANA/JAIPUR: Fresh efforts were on Sunday launched by the Rajasthan government to bring agitating Gujjars to the negotiating table after the two sides failed to agree on a common venue for talks.
The state authorities were in constant communication with Gujjar leader K S Bainsla in a bid to finalise the venue for the talks, said a senior official dealing with the agitation for ST status.
Attempts to end the 16-day-old agitation by the state government to bring 70-year-old Bainsla to the negotiating table failed on Saturday as the two sides refused to budge on their stand over the choice of the venue.
While the state authorities wanted the parleys to be held in Jaipur, Bainsla, a retired army colonel, insisted that they take place in Bayana, a Gujjar stronghold in Bharatpur district. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's earlier offer to the Gujjar leadership to hold talks had also failed on the same ground.
The government had this time conveyed its decision that the talks be held only in Jaipur in a letter to Bainsla, camping in Bharatpur's Karwadi-Pilupura area, the agitation hotbed, through it chief negotiator S N Thanvi.
The violent agitation by the Gujjars since May 23 has claimed the lives of 43 people in police firing and clashes.
Meanwhile, state BJP President Om Mathur, Treasurer Ramdas Agarwal and some other leaders undertook an aerial survey of the stir-hit areas. They will apprise the Chief Minister of the latest situation.
In its drive to nab unscrupulous elements involved in the agitation, police have arrested 202 people under various sections of the IPC from areas in Bharatpur, Karauli and Sawaimadhopur districts.
IG (Bharatpur Range) Umesh Mishra said one Prem Singh Gujjar has been booked under the stringent National Security Act which was earlier enforced in the affected areas.
He said the Bharatpur district authorities have seized 1258 licensed weapons and cancelled about 200 arms licences for failure to comply with the order to deposit guns with the police.
Efforts were also being made by the state authorities to clear areas along the Jaipur-Agra rail track which has been occupied by the Gujjars stalling train traffic.
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