The situation limped back to normalcy in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur district on Monday, as the movement of vehicular traffic on National Highway-8 resumed after four days of blockade, when the unruly tribal youth had laid siege to it, torched a large number of vehicles and vandalised some shops. The youth were agitating for recruitment of the Scheduled Tribe candidates to the vacant posts of teachers.
The protesters also ended their dharna at the Kakri-Dungri hills, situated adjacent to the highway, after a meeting with Minister of State for Tribal Area Development Arjun Singh Bamaniya and other representatives of the State government. Several incidents of stone-pelting and clashes were earlier reported in both Dungarpur and Udaipur districts.
The highway, connecting Udaipur with Ahmedabad, was cleared with the removal of stones, boulders and torched vehicles between Bichhiwada and Kherwada towns. Several policemen were also injured in the violence.
DGP Bhupendra Singh said in a statement that two persons had died and two were injured in police firing for controlling the violence. “Additional police force and Rapid Action Force have been deployed in Dungarpur since Sunday night,” Mr. Singh said. Twentyfour cases have been registered in connection with the violence.
Incidents of stone-pelting also took place in Rishabhdeo and Jhadol areas of Udaipur district. The prohibitory orders will remain in force and mobile Internet services suspended as a precautionary measure in some of the affected areas.
The unemployed tribal youth were demanding recruitment to 1,167 posts of general category teachers in the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) area, left vacant after the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET) was held in 2018. They were earlier staging a protest at the Kakri-Dungri hills, from where they came down to the highway on Thursday.
