LUCKNOW: The violent protests by Gujjars in neighbouring Rajasthan spilled over to Uttar Pradesh, with activists of Gujjar organisations disrupting the movement of trains on the Lucknow-New Delhi and Howrah-Delhi trunk route in Bulandshahr and Ghaziabad districts on Saturday.

About 4 feet of railway track was removed near Ajaibpur in the Ghaziabad-Aligarh section of Northern Railway.

The rail staff later repaired the track, but the movement of trains on the busy line is yet to be fully restored. Thirteen Delhi-bound trains from Lucknow and Kanpur, and seven trains from Delhi came to a halt.

The stir by the Gujjars in the two districts started at 6.40 a.m. causing inordinate delay of the mail and express trains. The New-Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi Express via Kanpur was late by almost seven hours.

Principal Secretary (Home) K. Chandramouli said the Delhi-Lucknow track was cleared at around noon and the movement of the Delhi-bound trains started at 1 p.m.

The Government had directed the officials of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts to ensure that all the preventive steps were taken.

Mr. Chandramouli said the district officials were in touch with the representatives of Gujjar organisations in a bid to tide over the problem.

He said the Gujjar MPs, MLAs and MLCs were also in touch with them. Mr. Chandramouli said the State Government wanted the issue to be resolved through dialogue. Rail and road traffic was expected to return to normal by Sunday. Mr. Chandramouli said effective measures had been taken to guard the rail tracks against further vandalism.

On the Rajasthan-U.P. border being reportedly sealed by the Rajasthan Government, the Home Secretary said it suited U.P. as the Government did not want the Gujjar protest to spill over to this side of the border.

New Delhi Special Correspondent writes:

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday held the Rajasthan Government responsible for the situation in the State. It appealed to Gujjars and Meenas to desist from violence and find a solution through discussions.

In a statement, the Polit Bureau said the Gujjar community's agitation for Scheduled Tribe status has now turned into caste clashes.

"The opportunist policies and false promises of the BJP State Government are responsible for the present situation.''

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