Members of the Jat community reached a deal late on Monday to end their protests that paralysed Haryana and cut water supplies to Delhi’s 20 million residents, a protest leader and a police source said.
A Jat community leader said protesters had reached an accord with state and union government leaders and would clear road blockades and end their agitation.
“The government has promised to meet our demands and we have promised our full cooperation,” Ramesh Dalal, convener of the Jat Arakshan Andolan (Jat Reservation Movement), told reporters.
Dalal said he had appealed to the entire Jat community, which makes up around a quarter of the population of Haryana, to return home after staging state-wide protests to demand more government jobs and college places.
A senior police officer said that state leaders had persuaded the Jats to call off their protests. “Our challenge is to keep the law and order situation under control,” the officer said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Earlier, the death toll from the caste riots increased to 19, as authorities said some districts had now lifted a curfew imposed after the outbreak Friday of deadly riots in Haryana state.
“Nineteen people have died and more than 200 are injured,” said Haryana additional chief secretary P. K. Das.
“There were a few clashes in parts of Bhiwani district overnight, where a curfew is still on, but the curfew has been lifted in other districts.”
“Most of the road links have been restored in the state and we hope to be in control of the situation by the end of the day,” said Das.
Water source cleared:
The Indian army has taken control of a canal that supplies three-fifths of Delhi’s water, the state’s chief minister said, raising hope that a water crisis in the metropolis of more than 20 million people can be averted.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that the army had regained control from protesters of the gates of the Munak canal to the north of Delhi.
He was assessing how long it would take for water to reach the city.
Protesters have burned railway stations and car showrooms, blocked road traffic and forced the cancellation of hundreds of trains. India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, has shut two factories because of disruptions to its supply chain.
The Jats, who make up a quarter of the state’s population, are a largely rural community of landowners that has lost out as population growth has shrunk the size of family farms while two years of drought have hit their crops.
Members of the Jat caste say they are struggling to find work despite India’s strong economic growth.
India sets aside a proportion of jobs and university places for Dalits, known as “untouchables”, and for other so-called “backward castes”, under measures intended to remedy centuries of discrimination.
