Delhi Bandh by Gujjars: protests disrupt life, 37 arrested

New Delhi, Jun 4 (UNI) Police arrested 37 people, burst tear gas shells and fired in the air to disperse agitating Gujjars who laid siege at various entry points to the Capital, torched public vehicles and pelted stones during today's 'Dilli Bandh' called to express solidarity with their brethrn in Rajasthan demanding 'Scheduled Tribe' status.

Even as unruly mobs disrupted rail services on the Delhi-Howrah route by sitting on tracks and stopping trains, including super-deluxe trains and EMUs, near Dadri and other nearby stations, as many as 16 security personnel, including two BSF jawans, were injured and five buses damaged in today's frenzy.

While 25 agitators were arrested from Mehrauli area in South Delhi, 12 others were detained from Khajuri Khas in North-East Delhi.

Following the stir, normal life was thrown out of gear in various parts of the city with heavy traffic jam reported at different entry points affecting entry of both private and government vehicles' into the Capital.

The worst affected was the Delhi-Gurgaon road where agitators armed with 'lathis' and sharp weapons set ablaze two Delhi Transport Corporation buses in South Delhi's Aya Nagar area and blocked the road with boulders despite heavy police bandobust.

However, 60 people were detained at Ghitorni for blocking the highway.

In Badarpur area, bordering Faridabad, where a sizeable Gujjar population was concentrated, the situation deteriorated when about 500 protestors went berseck and started pelting stones on passing vehicles and police force while blocking the road.

Police resorted to mild cane-charge and lobbed tear gas shells to shoot away the violent agitators who raised slogans against the Vasundhara Raje government.

Agitators also deflated tyres of DTC buses and smashed window panes of private vehicles even as passengers ran for cover.

In Noida's Kasna police station area, police fired several rounds in the air after agitators pelted stone at the 'thana'. However, the crowd thinned after police persuaded them to disperse.

In Loni area's Ghazipur Chowk on the Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) border, one DTC bus was damaged by a motley of people gathered ''to protest incidents in Rajasthan''. The protestors blocked raod with boulders and burning tyres.

The Delhi-Chandigarh highway was also blocked with burning tyres and agitators also burnt effigies of Ms Vasundhra Raje.

Despite heavy police presence and additional forces deployed at strategic locations across the city border limits, people took out processions and held demonstrations in Wazirabad, Azadpur, Khajuri Khas, Ghazipur, Mayur Vihar, Noida-Morh, Peeragarhi and Ashram areas.

Chanting anti-government, anti-Raje slogans and burning effigies of the CM, demonstrators stopped vehicles forcing police to divert traffic in various areas.

Meanwhile, supply of essential commodities like milk, medicine etc in the Capital remained normal.

However, supply of vegetable and fruits in Delhi was severely affected with 'mandi' associations reporting drastic drop in sales.

Chamber of Azadpur Market Association president M R Kriplani said sale of nearly 40 per cent of fruits and 50 per cent of vegetables dropped today leading to a loss of nearly 25 crore.

''This was mainly because the fruits and vegetables got burnt in the sun as the market started late due to 'jam', which prevented the trucks from reaching on time.'' UNI