4 dead in protests for caste benefits in northern India

Jhajjar witnessed severe violence on Saturday when a mob set fire to an electricity substation and attacked an Army column. Buildings of revenue departments were also set on fire at some places. Routes passing through Panipat, Rohtak and Rewari have been closed.

Hundreds of passengers have been stranded at New Delhi Railway Station. Security personnel today opened fire at Rohtak and Jhajjar districts, the epicenter of Jat agitation in demand for quota under OBC category, official sources said.

At a media interaction in the morning, DGP Y.P. Singhal called the agitation “leaderless” and said the involvement of “some agitators” from outside the State could not be ruled out. He claimed that the situation improved on Saturday compared to Friday.

“The incident of violence in certain parts of Haryana is very unfortunate”.

“A petrol pump and Sadar police station in Meham were damaged and set on fire”. The army could not enter Rohtak initially as protesters had put up blockades at several places, forcing the authorities to air drop them using helicopters. Manoj Jhawar, public relations officer of Pune railway division, said, “Considering the ongoing agitation, the railway administration has cancelled the Pune- Jammu Tawi Jhelum Express scheduled to depart from Pune on February 20 and 22”. Ten more columns of the army are being airlifted to their respective destinations. “Rest of leaders in BJP is in favour of giving reservation”, he said.

“We admit that available forces were not deployed the way they should have been but we are trying to maintain law and order”, Singhal said.

Jat protesters hit the streets on tractors in Sonipat on Saturday as youths in Hissar (below) carry a tree trunk to block a road.

There were reports that Jats from neighbouring villages were headed towards Rohtak town in large numbers in tractor-trailers.

Curfew has now been imposed in five towns in Haryana including Sonipat city.

With roads and railway tracks blocked, flights are the only safe option to travel from Chandigarh to other places.

The Jat stir has severely hit the movement of more than 800 trains, and seven stations were set on fire by the agitators.Jhajjar, Buddha Khera, Julana and Pillu Kheda were among the seven stations which were set afire.

In Next two days, the agitation will be intensified. In a bid to control the violent mob that was torching vehicles and shops, the Army resorted to firing in which according to Haryana government one person was killed, taking the official death toll to four.

“I have talks scheduled with leaders from the Jat community and I’m sure that a solution will emerge soon”.

On the other hand, the Delhi government yesterday late night moved the Supreme Court over the sudden water crisis in the capital due to the Jat agitation.