(rptg, adding matter in para three, line four)

Jaipur/New Delhi, June 4 (UNI) The eight-day agitation by Gujjar leaders in Rajasthan was called off today, following successful parleys with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on their demand for ST status even as violence was reported in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The Rajasthan government has assured the community that a three-member committee, headed by a retired High Court judge, will be set up to look into its demands.

The committee will submit its report to the state government within three months. The settlement came following talks between the Chief Minister and Gujjar Reservation Action Committee convenor Col Kirodi Singh Bainsla in Jaipur, bringing to an end the violent clashes in the desert state which have claimed 24 lives.

Normal life was affected in various parts of the national capital region, as agitating Gujjars torched vehicles and pelted stones during a bandh in support of their Rajasthan brethren. Police had to open fire in the air in Noida to disperse the violent agitators.

Trouble started since morning, mainly in the border areas, when a crowd of Gujjars squatted on the main roads and forcibly stopped passing vehicles despite heavy police bandobast.

The agitators also blocked the New Delhi-Howrah rail track at various places near Ghaziabad and Dadri, resulting into the delayed running of the trains.

In Noida, the unruly mobs pelted stones at vehicles of senior district administration and police authorities and injured several policemen and officials including Police Superintendent Paresh Pandey, SDM (Sadar) Harish Chandrta and Kasna police station in charge Ambika Bhardwaj. The mob also set ablaze a UP Roadways bus in Kasna market area. In Greater Noida also, two buses were set on fire. The expressway to Delhi was also jammed.

In the capital, protestors gathered at Wazirpur area, Khichdipur, Ghazipur and Dhulupura areas raising slogans and marching across the streets. Violence was reported from Ayanagar and Badarpur areas in south Delhi and Ghazipur area in east Delhi after the protestors indulged in stone pelting and clashed with police.

In Ghitorni area of south Delhi, several people were rounded up when they attacked the police. Incidents of stone pelting were also reported from the Loni border and in Pandav Nagar area.

Traffic snarls were reported from several areas in the cities, including Noida Expressway, Mayur Vihar area, Delhi-Jaipur Highway and Lakshmi Nagar area.

Agitated demonstators also blocked traffic on the Faridabad-Gurgaon highway, the Delhi-Faridabad highway ans well as the Delhi-Jaipur highway.

The agitators also stopped trains on the main track. According to the Station Master of Dadri railway station, the agitators stopped North East Express and Howrah-bound Kalka Mail, Gomti Express, Vikramshila Express, Shatabdi Express, Sampoorna Kranti Express, Garib Rath, several AMU and superfast trains.

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