India News | Rajasthan: People from 5 Communities Block Highway to Demand 12% Reservation

Jaipur, Jun 13 (PTI) Hundreds of people from Saini, Kushwah, Shakya, Maurya, and Mali communities blocked the Jaipur-Agra Highway in Bharatpur district on Monday demanding 12 per cent reservation in jobs and higher education.

The district administration suspended the mobile internet services till 11 am Tuesday in Nadbai, Uchain, Weir, and Bhusavar tehsils to prevent situation from further deteriorating.

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The people from five communities are demanding 12 per cent separate reservation in Rajasthan under the banner of ‘Saini Mali Kushwah Shakya Maurya Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti'.

The leaders of the agitation said these castes are currently included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which has many other classes due to which these communities are not getting the benefit.

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“Our demand for the reservation should be met and a separate quota be given to us. If needed, we will also block the rail routes in Bharatpur and Dholpur," Badan Singh, general secretary of the samiti, said.

He demanded that “a minister from the government should come to us and assure us that our demand will be looked into, only then we will call off the dharna.”

District Collector Alok Ranjan said the agitators' demand has been conveyed to the government at the top level.

“We are holding dialogues with the agitators but they want someone from the government (minister). The government has been apprised of their demand related to reservation,” he said.

The district administration has deployed adequate force to prevent any untoward incident and situation so far is under control, Ranjan said.

Bharatpur SP said that a case has been registered against agitators for blocking the national highway. The law and order will not be allowed to be violated, he added.

To placate the protesters, the state government is learnt to have asked Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh and Bharatpur Divisional Commissioner Sanwarmal Verma to hold talks with them, according to some sources.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)