One person was killed and at least five injured in the violence that erupted in the city of Kherwara in Udaipur on Saturday night when protesters against empty seats for teacher recruitment broke out, damaging property and setting vehicles on fire in the area while police fired rubber bullets to control the situation, authorities said.
The Rajasthan government has sought personnel from the Center’s Rapid Action Force (RAF) to handle the situation after three days of protests in the southern desert state.
Violence erupted across all districts on Thursday when candidates for the 2018 Teacher Recruitment Exam blocked the Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway, threw stones at police, damaged properties and set fire to vehicles demanding to fill 1,167 general vacancies with candidates from Programmed Tribe (ST). The violence continued on Friday and the incidents also occurred on Saturday.
The state government rushed three senior police officials on Saturday: Director General of Police (DGP) (crime) ML Lathar; Jaipur Police Commissioner Anand Shrivastwa; and Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Dinesh MN – to Udaipur to monitor the situation.
Rajasthan Prime Minister Ashok Gehlot also called on the protesters to remain calm and end the rally, saying that his administration is ready to meet all legitimate demands, according to a statement. Governor Kalraj Mishra spoke to Gehlot by phone in Jaipur and called the main secretary (home) Abhay Kumar and ADG (law and order) Saurabh Srivastava in Raj Bhawan, instructing them to monitor the situation, he said.
Under the prime minister’s leadership, former Udaipur MP Raghuveer Meena and other public representatives from the Dungarpur district met with a delegation of agitating candidates to resolve the matter on Saturday. “We have called on the agitators to put an end to the violence and we assure them that the government will do what is legitimate to satisfy their demand. The meeting was conducted in a positive way, ”Meena told the PTI news agency.
Internet services were suspended in four districts – Dungarpur, Udaipur, Banswara and Pratapgarh – in southern Rajasthan on Saturday and Section 144 (ban on gathering of five or more people) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was imposed.
Police said one of the protesters, identified as Tarun Ahari, succumbed to his injuries. It is unclear how Ahari was injured in the protest.
At least six trucks, five buses, four police vehicles, nine cars, nine tempos and a motorcycle have been set on fire in the region in the last three days. The police fired more than 1,000 rubber bullets to control the situation.
Protesters have also continued to protest at NH-8. Between midnight Friday and Saturday night, eight trucks were set on fire in the Kakra Doongri area on NH-8. The protesters also destroyed more than a dozen stores.
(With PTI inputs)
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