A day after a young man was killed in retaliatory firing by the Border Security Force in Rohtak, the Jat agitation over reservation under the Other Backward Class (OBC) escalated across Haryana, including Gurgaon, with all major and small intersections and roads blocked in the Millennium City on Saturday.
This correspondent was on his way to Rohtak in a car around 9 a.m. and had barely traversed 10 km when the driver spotted a bunch of lathi-wielding young men, in their early 20s, standing in the middle of the road near Basai stopping vehicles. Sensing danger, the driver decided to a take a U-turn, but the young men soon came running and surrounded the vehicle forcing the driver to stop. “Sidha Chal, Mudna Nahi Hai,” (drive straight, do not take the U-turn) instructed one of the young men to the driver in a threatening voice in local Haryanvi dialect. The driver meekly surrendered and decided to follow the directions. After travelling another 500 m, we found that the Basai Chowk was also blocked with cars, trucks and tractors parked in a haphazard way on the road and a large traffic snarl. And we were caught between two road blocks with nowhere to go. The driver then entered the Basai village road trailing a few cars and reached Sector 9, but it was also of little help. “The Sector 9 chowk, the Sector 4/5 chowk and Basai chowk are completely blocked. There is no way out. There are reports that National Highway-8 has also been blocked from Rajiv Chowk to Sirhaul toll. It is not possible to get out of this maze,” said Saheb, a local Sector 9 resident. Even cyclists and motorcyclists were also not allowed to go beyond the road block.
The large road blocks across the city resulted in a harrowing time for the commuters. “We are on our way to Jhajjar for a family function, but there seems to be no way to reach Jhajjar. We have tried all possible routes, but the blocks have been placed at every 400-500 m distance making it impossible to go,” said Sanjay Singla, a shopkeeper, who was also stuck.
The Basai Road, that connects Gurgaon to Jhajjar, was blocked around 4 a.m. on Saturday and soon the way to Daultabad flyover and Atul Kataria Chowk were also blocked. Besides, Subhash Chowk, Chaudhary Bakhtawar Chowk, Maharana Pratap Chowk, Dhankot, Basai and Gurgaon Gaon were blocked as well.
It seems like there is not going to be any relief for residents in these areas anytime soon. “We are not going to withdraw the agitation till our demands are met,” said Rashtriya Jat Mahasabha spokesperson Paramjit Pawadia.
