Gujjar agitation: Talks fail to break impasse

BAYANA: Talks between Gujjars, who are on a warpath on job reservation issue, and Rajasthan government today failed to break the deadlock with protesters unrelenting on their demand for five per cent quota even as they continued blockade of certain rail and road routes in the state.

Gujjar leader Col (retd) Kirori Singh Bainsla rejected the government's offer to set up a committee with him as one of the members to resolve the reservation issue.

"I want a permanent solution to this because I do not want to leave things half-way," he said, threatening to intensify the stir if their demands were not met within seven days.

Energy Minister Jitendra Singh, an emissary of the state government, said the Gehlot administration is committed to reservation for the Gujjars but before that it has to undertake a quantifiable data of nomadic tribes who come under the five per cent category.

"Although the High Court has given a year's time, the government may finish the task much earlier," he said.

The government is ready to set up a committee with Bainsla as one of its members to resolve the stand-off, the minister said.

The first round of government-Gujjar talks was held at Pilukapura, the epicentre of the stir, some 11-km from Bayana in Bharatpur district.