Delhi, NCR on tenterhooks over possible Jat stir relaunch

National Capital and its neighbouring parts are again on the edge with the 72-hour deadline set by Jats ending on Thursday midnight after which they will resume their agitation over quota from Friday.

Paramilitary forces and police were out in the sensitive districts and carrying out flag marches in various places as the 72-hour deadline given by various Jat organisations to the BJP-led Haryana government was coming to an end. Drawing lessons from first phase of agitation, authorities like Railway, Delhi Jal Board, transport department, etc have announced to take stock of the situation before and during the stir.

If agitation takes place in a similar manner, it will hit raw water supply up to a large extent. Last time seven of the Delhi Jal Board’s water treatment plants had to stop production, leading to a severe lack of water in West, North-West, Central, South and parts of North Delhi and a similar situation is expected this time again. Even residences of Members of Parliament in Lutyens’ Delhi had faced water scarcity for a couple of days. The DJB had last time informed that of the 820 million gallons per day (MGD) of water produced by the nine treatment plants, only 240 MGD was produced due to the agitation. With rationing of supplies, the DJB had managed to save some water and was able to provide only 60 per cent of the supply for almost two days. However, if similar situation arises, residents of the Capital will face a similar situation.

The Railway has, however, refused to prepare any plan till Thursday but said that they are alert. “There is no disruption till Thursday as trains are running properly on all routes. If any untoward situation happens, it will be handled properly,” said a Railway spokesperson. In the last week of February the Jat agitation for quota had hit rail services hard in the Northern states, affecting around 1,000 trains with 800 trains being cancelled and 105 trains getting diverted besides damage to rail property, causing a loss of Rs 200 crore to the transporter. Important rail routes to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, and Jammu and Kashmir had been badly affected with the Delhi-Rohtak-Bhatinda, Delhi-Rewari-Jaipur and Delhi-Panipat-Ambala routes being the worst hit.

Various Jat organisations had on Monday threatened to resume their quota agitation, which rocked the state last month and claimed 30 lives, if the Manohar Lal Khattar-government does not meet their demand by Thursday.

“The government had promised to look after the demands but no action has been taken yet. If a promise is made, it should be fulfilled accordingly,” said Yudhveer Singh, national secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). Haryana government, however, invited Jat leaders for talks on their quota demand and appealed not to resume their agitation. “We have been invited by the government for talks tomorrow (Friday) at Chandigarh. Our leaders 

will be meeting Haryana Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) on Friday as per the government invitation,” All India Jat Aarakshan Sanghursh Samiti president Yashpal Malik said.