NEW DELHI: Commuters in the national capital were in for a rude shock with heavy traffic jams due to the protests organised by the Jat community who assembled at Jantar Mantar on Thursday. The heavy vehicular movement was primarily experienced by those travelling in central and South Delhi. Roads connecting Delhi to NCR were a total choc-a-bloc.
The National Highway 24, Delhi-Agra highway, National Highway 1, Connaught Place, ITO are currently having slow moving traffic. According to the Delhi traffic police, almost 4,000 traffic cops have been deployed to manage traffic in the national capital.
"We are witnessing jams in some locations due to heavy vehicle moments due to a protest by Jat community at Jantar Mantar. It is expected that Delhi roads will have traffic whole day due the protest, especially during peak hour," a senior traffic police official said.
Almost 10,000 people from UP and Haryana have reached Delhi to demand quota in education, and government jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. They are also seeking the release of those jailed during last year's agitation, withdrawal of cases slapped during the protest and government jobs for the kin of those killed and injured in the stir.
Violence during the February 2016 agitation by Jats across several districts in Haryana left 30 people dead and over 200 injured. Government and private properties worth hundreds of crore were also damaged.
"We have come here to protest against the insensitivity which the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana has shown to our demands. We will march to Parliament with our demands," said Yashpal Malik, president of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS).
He said the community was prepared for a long drawn battle and that essential supplies are likely to be affected.
As many as 30 people were killed and properties worth crores were damaged at many places in Haryana during last year's Jat stir which had turned violent.
(With inputs from IANS)