Chandigarh, March 10
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here today that he had forwarded a memorandum received from leaders spearheading the ongoing Jat reservation stir to the Prime Minister, who had sent it to the Backward Classes Commission.He said the Jats should get reservation in Central Government services under the OBC category.

However, he said there was no proposal for their reservation in the state services as this demand was not part of their memorandum.

The memorandum, received about a year ago, was sent to the Prime Minister for “favourable consideration”. Asked what the state was doing to disperse the protesters, who had blocked rail tracks, which had affected coal supply to power plants, he said the agitation was not limited to Haryana alone. Hooda said he had talked to the Cabinet Secretary in this regard yesterday. He revealed that the Union Government was in touch with the agitators, who had been peaceful so far.

Denying that any action was being contemplated against ex-servicemen leading the agitation, he said it was their democratic right unless they took law into their own hands.

Hooda said it had been his consistent stand that water should be “nationalised” as every drop of water was national property.

He said a selection committee had been constituted for selecting members of the State Human Rights Commission.

Lucknow: Expressing her party’s solidarity with the agitating Jat community, which is seeking an OBC quota, Chief Minister Mayawati today urged them to present their case before the Central government in a “disciplined manner.”

For the last six days, the Jat agitators have been disrupting the rail traffic between Delhi and Lucknow. This has caused time-consuming diversions of dozens of long- distance trains and cancellation of many more. Addressing mediapersons, Mayawati reiterated her party’s stand of supporting OBC reservation for the Jat community in government jobs. “You should strongly present your case before the Central government in a disciplined manner. But please do not do anything in Uttar Pradesh that inconveniences the common man,” she told the agitators. With the Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti agitation entering the sixth day today, leaders of the Samiti threatened to disrupt the vehicular traffic and water supply to Delhi if their demand for reservation in Central Government jobs was not considered.

The decision to intensify their agitation comes after their talks with the Centre failed on Wednesday. Samiti president Yashpal Mallick claimed that they were mobilising the community to intensify the agitation, as the talk with the Centre has not produced the desired results. “They did not take cognisance of our agitation and even refused to give any undertaking to consider our demands.,” he said. A delegation of the Samiti members reportedly met Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekhar on Wednesday. However, according to Mallick, all that the official promised was to convey their demands to the PMO.