JAIPUR: The situation remained tense in Rajasthan Dungarpur as candidates for a teacher recruitment exam confronted the police and indulged in arson while a delegation of them met with the tribal area development minister Arjun Singh Bamniya in Udaipur on Saturday.
Authorities had imposed prohibition orders on Friday in addition to suspending mobile internet services in Dungarpur district after a violent protest by candidates for the 2018 recruitment exam.
Protesters demand 1,167 vacancies be filled from the general quota of the Scheduled Tribes Category.
On Saturday, Governor Kalraj Mishra spoke with the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the phone to discuss the situation.
Mishra called main secretary (home) Abhay Kumar and ADG (Law and Order) Saurabh Srivastava at the Raj Bhawan, and instructed them to monitor the situation, according to the statement.
Following the prime minister’s instructions, the tribal area development minister, Arjun Singh Bamniya, and other public representatives from the district met with a delegation of agitators.
The meeting, held at the residence of former Udaipur MP and congressional leader Raghuveer Meena, lasted nearly three hours.
“We have called on the agitators to stop the violence and we assure them that the government will do what is legitimate to meet their demand,” Meena said.
In addition to Bamniya, Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) judicial deputies Rajkumar Roat and Ramprasad, congressional lawmaker Ganesh Ghogra, former MP Tarachand Bhagora and some advocates were present at the meeting.
BTP MLA Roat claimed that the police and administration attacked local villagers and arrested them, escalating the violence.
“Now, they have become villagers instead of police and administration there,” Roat said.
He said the government’s priority is to control the situation first.
After the meeting, Roat and Meena set out for Kherwara in Dungarpur to convince the agitators.
Meanwhile, new incidents of stoning and fires broke out on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway, which has been blocked by protesters.
The police control room said two bicycles were set on fire and the protesters indulged in throwing stones.
The rioters again confronted the police on the Dungarpur road.
Violence erupted on Thursday when protesters blocked the Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway. They stoned the police, set fire to vehicles and damaged property.
The violence continued on Friday and Saturday.
Udaipur Range IG Binita Thakur said that additional police force has been deployed in the area.
Another police officer said that nearly 25 kilometers of the highway are blocked.
“The road is blocked from Ratanpur to Khariwara. Once the situation is under control, traffic will resume,” he said.
According to authorities, protesters set fire to nearly 25 vehicles in addition to vandalizing a gasoline pump, a hotel and other properties since Thursday.
Dungarpur SP’s vehicle was also set on fire Thursday.
Thirty-five policemen, including an ASP and a DSP, were injured by being stoned on Thursday.
So far, the police have arrested 30 people in connection with the violence. Earlier, Prime Minister Gehlot had called on protesters to stop the violence.
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