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Thursday, May 29, 2008
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Security up for Patoli firing anniversary

Sunny Sebastian

Gujjar groups to observe martyrs’ day; Army and RAF personnel deployed

— Photo: PTI

Unrelenting: Gujjar women pay their respects to community members who lost their lives during clashes with police, at Karwari-Pilupura village in Bharatpur, Rajasthan on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: An uneasy calm prevailed in areas affected by the violent Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan on the eve of the first anniversary of the police firing at Patoli-Peepalkheda on the National Highway No.11.

Even as bodies of 37 victims of this week’s violence awaited last rites at different places, the administration on Wednesday got busy ahead of the anniversary function, which the Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti (Gujjar reservation action committee) and other Gujjar groups announced would be observed as a “martyrs’ day.”

(On May 29, 2007, twelve persons were killed in police firing in Rajasthan.)

The administration and the Gujjar leadership are not in a position to visualise the nature and dimension of the programme at Patoli on Thursday. The Army conducted a flag march in the area on Wednesday. Three Army columns have been deployed along the NH 11 between Patoli and Peepalkheda while the Rapid Action Force and jawans of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary are also camping.

The authorities want to confine the “shradhanjali” (homage) programme at the site, which has no memorial yet but a raised platform, to offering of flowers at a stipulated time in the morning.

The official preparedness for the anniversary was reviewed by a group of ministers at the residence of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the presence of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Kalraj Misra and Prakash Javadekar, party’s State president Omprakash Mathur, the former Deputy Chief Minister Harishankar Bhabra and Ramdas Agarwal, who headed the committee which announced a special package of Rs.282 crore for the Gujjars a week back.

“We hope peace and normalcy would return to the State in another 2-3 days time. [The] Vasundhara Raje government is moving in the right direction as far as handling of the situation is concerned,” Mr. Javadekar told journalists. He said their presence in the Rajasthan capital was no reflection of the Central leadership’s perception on the handling of the Gujjar issue here. “Ms. Raje and Omprakash Mathur are capable of dealing with the situation. We have been sent by the party to support them,” Mr. Javadekar said.

At Pilupura in Bayana tehsil of Bharatpur, the bodies of 12 persons killed in the Friday’s firing were still on the rail tracks awaiting post-mortem as stalemate over their disposal continued. Another six bodies were at Sikandra on the NH 11, which remained partially blocked for the fifth day.

The police arrested 78 persons in Bayana and other parts of Bharatpur while the neighbouring districts of Sawai Madhopur and Karauli accounted for another 11 arrests. These districts are under the National Security Act. In Bharatpur, 126 persons surrendered their weapons as the deadline for surrendering firearms ended at noon on Wednesday.

“There is no breakthrough. Moreover, today’s concentration was on the preparations for tomorrow’s [Thursday’s] ceremony,” S.N. Thanvi, Principal Secretary, who is overseeing the situation in Pilupura, told The Hindu from Bayana.

“No intermediaries have so far approached us,” he said when told about the reports of the spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar volunteering to mediate.

“The Gujjar leadership is insisting that the four bodies which are with us should also be taken to the site for post-mortem. That cannot be done. The autopsy of those bodies will be done at the hospital only,” he said.

At Sikandra, Gujjar leader Umrao Singh said that whatever decision was taken on the bodies at Pilupura would be applicable for the six bodies kept across the NH 11 as well.

“We look forward to a dialogue. Stubbornness is not good in democracy,” Dausa Collector Rajesh Yadav said.

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