Jaipur, May 31
The state government has again sent a proposal to the Centre, this time with the Cabinet approval, recommending 4 to 6 per cent reservation for the Gujjar community as a denotified tribe. State parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore confirmed that the Chief Minister today sent the letter, along with the minutes of the Cabinet meeting, to the Union ministry for tribal affairs, which considers such cases.
Meanwhile, facing flak from all sides, including her own party, for the large number of deaths in police firing in the on-going Gujjar agitation, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has sent state DGP Amarjot Singh Gill on leave and replaced him with K.S. Bains.
DGP Gill was reportedly under fire from the Chief Minister after the latest incident at Kushalidhurra yesterday that led to the death of two persons. He offered to step down himself instead of suspending a junior officer for the incident.
Gill, who was the state DGP for three years, would be on leave till July 31. Gill is from Patiala and is already on his way to Punjab. “I did whatever best I could. I have had three fruitful years in the state and have no regrets,” he said talking to The Tribune.
K.S. Bains, also from Punjab, has been in the Intelligence Bureau for several years. Bains was posted as DGP, jails, and was now holding the charge of DGP, Anti-Corruption Bureau. Talking to mediapersons following his taking over office here this afternoon, Bains said every problem had a solution and the Gujjar agitation was like a challenge. He was ready to put in his best. Congress leaders in the state lost no time
to point out that Gill had been made a scapegoat by Raje, who, they said, was herself responsible for the situation from going bad to worse and had failed to handle the agitation
properly.
Though police officers agreed that changing the DGP at this stage would demoralise the police cadre, the move had silenced many critics, including many Gujjar leaders in the Raje government.
While the change of DGP has given Raje a breather, sources within the government agreed that the situation in the state was becoming grimmer each passing day. With Gujjars refusing to hold any dialogue, there was nothing much the state government could do to break the deadlock, they said.
The Gujjar community continued to hold the state to ransom for the ninth day today. After the opening of another front yesterday at Sawai Madhopura where around 2,000 persons were camping with two bodies, the protesters showed vigour and tried to block roads at least at nine places. A goods train was derailed after protesters damaged the rail line near Bandikui late last night. At least 12 trains were cancelled.
Besides the two national highways, the Gujjars have blocked three state highways in the eastern side, which has virtually cut off this part of the state from the rest of the country.
Sources add that a former Congress MLA from Bayana today requested for a team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to conduct post-mortem on the dead bodies lying at the protest sites at Pilupura and Sikandra. However, AIIMS has reportedly refused to send its doctors outside New Delhi to conduct post-mortem.
The Rajasthan government last night conceded to Gujjar leader Col Kirori Singh Bainsla’s demand for post-mortem on the bodies by a team of doctors from AIIMS. Bainsla wrote to the district administration today laying down certain conditions for the post-mortem.
