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Gujjar women block rail tracks as quota protests continue in India
Gujjar women blocked the Jaipur-Delhi and Jaipur-Agra rail routes from Tuesday morning, stranding nearly 40,000 train passengers.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:45 June 3, 2008
Jaipur: Gujjar women blocked the Jaipur-Delhi and Jaipur-Agra rail routes from Tuesday morning, stranding nearly 40,000 train passengers.
Hundreds of them, their colourful saris drawn over their faces, damaged rail tracks in Rajasthan using axes and sticks.
More than 50 trains on that route have been cancelled and this stand-off could continue for the next 24 hours.
Railway tracks at Bandikuian near Dausa, has been blocked leading to cancellation of all trains from Ahmedabad to Delhi.
The Gujjar community, which is demanding job quotas, also began cremating on Tuesday dozens of people killed by police.
Gujjars are fighting to be reclassified further down India's complex Hindu caste and status system to qualify for government jobs and university places reserved for such groups.
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The violence, which started 12 days ago in Rajasthan, has claimed some 40 lives, mostly protesters shot dead by police. Gujjars had also briefly halted traffic on highways into New Delhi last week.
They had refused to cremate the dead, squatting with the bodies on rail tracks and roads leading to New Delhi, but eventually agreed to post mortems and cremation.
Rail services, particularly between Rajasthan's capital Jaipur and the Taj Mahal town of Agra, remained disrupted for the 12th day. Some roads in the state continued to be blocked.
The Rajasthan government is refraining from taking any action against the protesters, as there are signs of the stand-off with Gujjars winding down.
Meanwhile, railway officials are using buses to ferry passengers, stranded on tracks, to nearby stations.
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