10 killed in Jat protest for quota
Water shortage in Delhi, schools closed, road and rail links cut
new delhi — Govt deployed thousands of troops in a northern state on Sunday to quell protests that have severely hit water supplies to Delhi, a city of more than 20 million people, forced factories to close and killed 10 people.
The rioting in Haryana by the Jats, a rural caste, is symptomatic of increasingly fierce competition for government jobs and educational openings in India, whose growing population is set to overtake China’s within a decade.
Rapid urbanisation is putting pressure on water supplies after two years of drought, with the mega-city around the capital New Delhi relying on Haryana to meet much of its needs. “No water available now. Still no hope to get it,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said in a tweet on Sunday morning.
The city government ordered schools to shut on Monday and rationed water supply to residents to ensure that hospitals and emergency services have enough.
The home ministry deployed 50 army columns — or 4,000 troops — and 5,000 paramilitaries from the Border Security Force in an overwhelming show of force to restore order. Haryana’s police chief said the death toll had risen to 10 and 150 more had been injured. “We are trying to identify the conspirators and take action,” Director General of Police Yash Pal Singal told a televised news conference.
Haryana, the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) Y.P. Singhal refuted reports that there was lack of coordination between the army deployed in the state and the state authorities. The DGP said the security forces have formulated an action plan for the affected districts and efforts were being made to restore traffic on NH-1 and other highways that have been blocked by protesters. “We are trying to secure the cities. We have initiated night-dominance by security forces,” he said.
Protesters have attacked the homes of regional ministers, torched railway stations and staged sit-ins on tracks, blocking hundreds of trains. They sabotaged pumping equipment at a water treatment plant that provides most of Delhi’s water.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, India’s biggest carmaker by sales, suspended operations at its plants in the state after the protests disrupted the supply of some components.
With many road and rail links cut, the government announced that extra flights had been laid on to destinations in northwest India.
Thousands of people continued to suffer as the violent agitation by Jat community protestors in Haryana continued for the eighth day on Sunday. Trains and buses to and from Delhi and other places have been cancelled. All major highways passing through Haryana have been blocked by protestors at several places. Those opting for the flight path faced hiked up ticket rates in view of the increased demand.
Flight-tickets from Chandigarh to Delhi were being priced between Rs25,000 and Rs55,000 for the one-hour journey. —