Government sends officials for talks; Gujjars refuse

As the agitation by Gujjars demanding five per cent reservation in government jobs entered the sixth day in Rajasthan, the state government today sent three senior IAS officials to Bayana to hold talks with the protestors who refused to meet them.

GS Sandhu, Niranjan Arya and Ashok reached Bayana in a helicopter from Jaipur and appealed to Gujjars to send a delegation to start the first round of talks to end the deadlock but did not get a positive response from leaders of the stir.

"Our community is not ready to talk with these officials. So we are not sending any delegation to start dialogues with them. We are demanding five per cent reservation and we will hold talks only after the agenda of any meeting is 'five per cent reservation' only," Roop Singh, a close aide of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, said.

The officers are camping at a government school in Bayana to assess the situation.

Meanwhile, Gujjar protestors blocked the Ajmer-Indore rail track in Bhilwara district on the sixth day of their agitation, disrupting movement of at least eight rains on the route.

The agitators have already occupied Jaipur-Delhi tracks near Bandikui in Dausa and Delhi-Mumbai in Bharatpur district in support of their demands.