Gujjar protesters demanding reservation in jobs and education vacated the railway tracks at Peelupura in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district on Thursday after having occupied them for 11 days.
The agitation was called off late on Wednesday night following an agreement signed with the State government in Jaipur.
The Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti had launched the agitation on November 1 for a 5% quota under the Most Backward Class (MBC) category in the ongoing recruitments and backlog vacancies and inclusion of a State reservation law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
In the pact signed between Gujjar supremo Kirori Singh Bainsla and a Cabinet Sub-Committee, the State government has agreed to give regular pay scale to 1,252 MBC candidates recruited earlier and appoint a committee on new recruitments. The government has held out an assurance of considering the other demands.
The agitators vacated the railway tracks after the agreement was read out to them by the community leaders. They repaired the fishplates and clips they had earlier damaged. Gujjar leader Vijay Bainsla said railway gangmen were checking the lines for restoration of train traffic.
The protesters also cleared the roads, including the Bayana-Hindaun road, in Bharatpur and Karauli districts which they had blocked during the stir.
Mobile internet services, which were suspended in Gujjar-dominated areas, were restored after the announcement of withdrawal of agitation.
No more diversion
A North Western Railway spokesperson said the trains on the Delhi-Mumbai route, which were diverted or cancelled because of the track’s blockade, would run on their original route and all the affected rail operations would shortly be restored.