By NNN-PTI,
Jaipur/Bayana, India : Tension mounted as the five-day old Gujjar agitation spread to new areas in Rajasthan state today amid reports of violence and traffic chaos on highways.
Police tear-gassed Gujjar protesters who blocked the Delhi-Jaipur national highway as the agitation spread to Tonk and Banswara.
There were no signs of an end to the standoff between the Vasundhara Raje government and the protestors demanding ST status to the Gujjar community.
Hopes of a breakthrough were dashed with Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla outright rejecting a letter by the Chief Minister to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of denotified tribes.
Hundreds of Gujjar youths put up blockades on National Highway-8 near Kotputali, 130 km from Jaipur, leading to jams on either sides of the road and queuing up of buses, police said.
Police first resorted to lathi charge and later used teargas shells to disperse the protesters.
In Tonk district, about 200 kms from Jaipur, police used teargas against Gujjars who were forcing shopkeepers to down their shutters and blockading roads, Superintendent of Police, Giriraj Lal Meena told PTI.
At least ten people including two policemen were injured when protestors indulged in brick batting at Ghas village, 12 kms from Tonk, Meena said.