People from Gujjar community block NH11 Jaipur-Agra highway in Dausa district of Rajasthan. (PTI Photo)
Accepting Vasundhara Raje government's offer to come to Jaipur to hold talks on reservation issue, Gujjar leaders today decided to hold meeting with the committee of ministers in the state capital.
The Delhi-Mumbai rail track in Bharatpur, Agra-Jaipur national highway in Dausa and a state highway in Sawaimadhopur are still blocked.
A delegation of 11-members has left for Jaipur from Bharatpur and the meeting is scheduled to take place late in the evening.
"The agitation leader Kirori Singh Bainsla accepted the government's proposal and formed an 11-member delegation to hold talks with the committee of ministers in Jaipur today. The delegation will reach Jaipur late in the evening," Himmat Singh, spokesperson of the Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti told Press Trust of India.
Mr Bainsla is not the part of the delegation. "Our demand is five per cent reservation within the legal limit of 50 per cent. We will accept only fresh and a concrete proposal if offered by the government.
"The outcome of the meeting will be discussed with Bainsla and any decision about the future course of action will be taken thereafter and this all will depend on the outcome of the meeting," he said.
Earlier in the day, despite a consensus among the Gujjar community people, Mr Bainsla was adamant for calling the committee of ministers- Rajendra Rathore, Arun Chaturvedi and Hem Singh Bhadana- at Bayana in Bharatpur for next round of the talks and also handed over a letter to the district administration, but later he changed his stand and decided to send the delegation to Jaipur.
The Gujjars began their agitation on Thursday last week. The first meeting between Mr Bainsla and his delegation and the committee of ministers took place in Bayana on Saturday but it ended without any result following which the government offered them to come to Jaipur for holding next round of the talks.
The railway tracks on the Delhi-Mumbai route in Pilukapura have been blocked since Thursday while Agra-Jaipur highway in Dausa and a state highway at Sawaimadhopur are also blocked, where hundreds of Gujjars are squatting to press the demand for five per cent reservation in government jobs.
The national highway was cleared yesterday for few hours as the locals chased the agitators, who were outsiders, away but they returned with more people last evening and blocked the highway again.
"Traffic has been diverted to alternate routes and police as well as paramilitary forces have been deployed in the area. There was some tension last night but the situation is under control and peaceful now," said DC Jain, Inspector General of Jaipur.