The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court, on Friday, took suo moto notice of the on-going jat agitation that has paralysed rail traffic on the Delhi-Lucknow route for 14 days now and asked the centre, state and the railways to get the tracks cleared at the earliest. The bench, comprising Justice Umanath Singh and Justice V.K. Dikshit, served notices to Union home secretary, UP home secretary, director general of police and chairman railway board and sought their report on the Jat agitation and the problems faced by the people. The court has fixed March 23 as the next date of hearing.
Meanwhile, UP chief minister Mayawati, who had extended her support to the jat demand for reservation in central services, has now written a letter to Union home minister P. Chidambaram, asking him to take personal interest in solving the issue which was creating problems for the common man.
Briefing reporters, UP Cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said that the state government was fully sensitive to the problems being faced by the people due to the blockade on the tracks but blamed the centre for not taking the state government into confidence over negotiations.
“The matter is related to the Centre but the state government is fully aware about its responsibilities. The Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti had refused to negotiate with the UP government on the issue. The jat delegation has had three rounds of talks with the Centre, including one with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Centre, however, has not informed the state government about these meetings and we are completely in the dark,” he said.
Mr Singh, however, admitted that the jat agitation which began on March 5 at Amroha, had led to a shortage of supplies of essential items in some places.
Mr Singh was non-committal when asked if the state government would resort to force to get the railway tracks cleared. “We will do whatever is needed and we are waiting for directives from the Centre,” he added.
Meanwhile, the rail services between Lucknow and Delhi remained paralysed for the 14th consecutive day and vehicular traffic on the National Highway-24 was also disrupted due to massive rush on the eve of Holi festival. Nearly 400 trains have been cancelled due to the agitation while 377 trains have been diverted through other routes.