M A I N   N E W S

RAF rushed to clear tracks of Jat protesters
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

Trains cancelled today, tomorrow 12005/12006 New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi 14095/4096 Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Kalka Himalayan Queen 14217/4218 Allahabad-Chandigarh Unchaahar Express 14525/14526 Ambala-Sriganganagar Intercity Express 14731/14732 New Delhi-Bathinda Intercity Express 14519/14520 Delhi-Bathinda Kisan Express (only March 22) 12482/12481 Delhi-Sriganganagar-Intercity (only March 22) Trains to be short terminated 14795/14796 Bhiwani-Kalka-Bhiwani Ekta Express at Panipat 12137 Mumbai-Ferozepur Punjab Mail at New Delhi

New Delhi, March 21
Even as agitating Jats threatened to block the Delhi-Jammu rail link, the government's crisis management group (CMG) on Monday decided to use the Rapid Action Force (RAF) to clear the rail tracks. The Northern Railway today announced cancellation of 68 trains. Two trains were diverted and five others were terminated short of their destination.

If the protesting Jats go ahead with plans to block rail traffic near Kurukshetra, it would affect movement of trains to Chandigarh as well as to cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Jammu.

The Home Ministry has dispatched 1,000 paramilitary personnel of the RAF to Haryana to assist local authorities to deal with the law and order situation since the local police is not keen to meddle with the dominant and ruling Jat community.

Significantly, the government also indicated its willingness to change rules to allow the National Commission for Backward Castes (NCBC) to receive representations of the Jats to consider the community's plea for inclusion in the Central government list of backward castes. The existing rules do not allow the NCBC to consider the plea as it had rejected it in 1998.

“The change of this particular rule does not need any Parliamentary approval. So, the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment is likely to issue an official notification to this effect soon so that the NCBC can consider their pleas again," an official said. The CMG, headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, took stock of the situation in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan where the agitation of the Jat community has affected normal life, particularly the railway traffic.

Meanwhile sources said the demand for inclusion of Jats into the central list of OBCs has to be taken by the NCBC for which the government cannot give any time-bound commitment as the Commission was an independent entity.