By IANS,
Amroha (Uttar Pradesh: Jat community leaders Saturday said they have decided to end their two-week long rail blockade here, but added that their agitation to press for quotas in government jobs will continue.
“We respect the Allahabad High Court directions and, therefore, have decided to end the protests that were being carried out on the railway tracks near the Kafupur railway station,” Jat leader Satpal Chaudhary told reporters in Amroha, some 300 km from Lucknow.
However, the agitators, while clearing the rails and not blockading trains, would continue to squat along the tracks, Jat leaders said.
Demanding their inclusion in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in government job quota, the Jat protesters have been blockading key rail routes in western Uttar Pradesh since March 5.
The Allahabad High Court Friday issued stern directives to the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure restoration of rail services that were being disrupted due to the agitation.
“We want to clarify that as of now, we have only decided to clear the railway tracks, but our agitation would continue. We would continue to stage sit-ins, but will not block the tracks,” Chaudhary added.
Though the decision to free the tracks came after senior government officials and a state minister met a group of Jat leaders, president of All India Jat Sangharsh Samiti Yashpal Malik said: “We have taken the decision solely considering the high court directions and it has nothing to do with our discussions with the state government.
“Our agitation is against the central government as it can only look into our demands pertaining to reservation,” he said.
“We have to hold talks with the home minister in this regard today (Saturday). After the meeting, we would formulate our future strategy,” he added.
Yashpal Malik left for Delhi along with other Jat leaders Saturday for talks with Home Minister P. Chidambaram over their job quota demand.
Their agitation has severely affected train traffic on the Delhi-Lucknow route, where most trains are forced to take long detours, leading to hours-long delays.