AGRA: Train services were hit on the busy Delhi-Howrah route for more than eight hours on Thursday after members of the Aheria community squatted on the tracks in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras junction to demand the inclusion of their caste in the reserve category list.
The agitation was called off late evening after Chandra Pal Singh (Aheriya), president of the community, issued a video statement from Lucknow that they had got an appointment with chief minister Yogi Adityanath for December 18. “We will resume the protests on December 21 at Somna station in Aligarh, if the CM does not meet us on the given date,” he said.
The tracks were cleared by 8pm, confirmed Deepak Kumar, DIG (Aligarh range).
Talking to TOI, senior public relation officer of North Central Railway (NCR), Amit Malviya, said 14 long distance trains, including Bhuvneshwar Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani, Sealdah Rajdhani, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Arunachal Express and Lucknow-Gomti SF Express, were delayed. No diversion route was available till the evening.
The protestors occupied the railway track in Hathras junction at 11am. They put up a red flag on the track and shouted slogans, “Aheriya zindabad”. A women protestor said political leaders promise to fulfill their demands for inclusion in the reserved list while seeking votes but pay no heed after the elections. “We are not getting quota certificates as our caste is not included in the list approved by the government,” she said.
Ramesh Ranjan, district magistrate of Hathras, told TOI that talks were on between Aheria community leaders and senior officials in Lucknow. He said as their caste is not included in the reserved category list of the Government of India, they cannot avail of any benefits of quota.
Additional police force from neighbouring districts was called in the evening and deployed in Hathras to maintain law and order situation in the town.
The word Aheria means “hunter” as it was their traditional occupation. They are said to have been soldiers in the army of Maharana Pratap. After his defeat, they scattered and took up farming in the 1920s, when forced to give up hunting. Now, many of them have taken to selling flowers.
The agitation was called off late evening after Chandra Pal Singh (Aheriya), president of the community, issued a video statement from Lucknow that they had got an appointment with chief minister Yogi Adityanath for December 18. “We will resume the protests on December 21 at Somna station in Aligarh, if the CM does not meet us on the given date,” he said.
The tracks were cleared by 8pm, confirmed Deepak Kumar, DIG (Aligarh range).
Talking to TOI, senior public relation officer of North Central Railway (NCR), Amit Malviya, said 14 long distance trains, including Bhuvneshwar Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani, Sealdah Rajdhani, Dibrugarh Rajdhani, Arunachal Express and Lucknow-Gomti SF Express, were delayed. No diversion route was available till the evening.
The protestors occupied the railway track in Hathras junction at 11am. They put up a red flag on the track and shouted slogans, “Aheriya zindabad”. A women protestor said political leaders promise to fulfill their demands for inclusion in the reserved list while seeking votes but pay no heed after the elections. “We are not getting quota certificates as our caste is not included in the list approved by the government,” she said.
Ramesh Ranjan, district magistrate of Hathras, told TOI that talks were on between Aheria community leaders and senior officials in Lucknow. He said as their caste is not included in the reserved category list of the Government of India, they cannot avail of any benefits of quota.
Additional police force from neighbouring districts was called in the evening and deployed in Hathras to maintain law and order situation in the town.
The word Aheria means “hunter” as it was their traditional occupation. They are said to have been soldiers in the army of Maharana Pratap. After his defeat, they scattered and took up farming in the 1920s, when forced to give up hunting. Now, many of them have taken to selling flowers.
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