With the 72-hour ultimatum, given by various Jat organisations, set to end on Thursday night. The Jats have threatened to resume their agitation if the ruling BJP Government does not grant them reservation by Friday. The national Capital and its adjoining areas are again in a precarious situation.
Taking lessons from first phase of agitation, authorities like Railway, Delhi Jal Board and Transport Department have announced to take stock of the situation before the stir.
However, to defuse the situation, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar invited the Jat leaders for talks. “We have been invited by the Government for talks on Friday in Chandigarh,” All India Jat Aarakshan Sanghursh Samiti President Yashpal Malik said. “Our leaders will be meeting Haryana Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) on Friday afternoon as per the Government invitation,” he added.
Paramilitary forces and police were out in the sensitive districts in various places as the 72-hour deadline given by various Jat organisations to the BJP-led Haryana Government was coming to an end on Thursday.
If agitation takes place in a similar manner, it will hit raw water supply to Delhi to larger extent. last time seven of the Delhi Jal Board’s water treatment plants stopped production, leading to a severe water crisis 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 shortage for couple of weeks.
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 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.
Meanwhile, the Railways claimed to be alert to the situation if the agitation begins. “There is no disruption till Thursday as trains are running properly on all routes. If any untoward happens, it will be handled properly,” said a Railway spokesperson.
It may be noted that in the last week of February, Jat quota stir had hit rail services in the Northern States, affecting around 1,000 trains with 800 trains cancelled and 105 diverted besides damage to rail property, causing a loss of Rs200 crore to the transporters. The important rail routes to the States of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, and Jammu and Kashmir have been badly affected due to the Jat agitation, said a senior Railway Ministry official. The Delhi-Rohtak-Bhatinda and Delhi-Rewari-Jaipur, Delhi-Panipat-Ambala routes are worst affected.
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 demand but no action has been taken yet. If promise was made, it should be fulfilled accordingly,’ said Yudhveer Singh, national secretary of Bharatiya Kisna Union (BKU).