Jat Leaders Call off Strike, Restore Water Supply to Delhi

Striking to press for their demands of reservation in government jobs, Jat leaders have decided to call off their agitation and agreed to restore the water supply to Delhi from the Upper Ganga canal in Uttar Pradesh, said media reports.

According to an agreement reached with the government, a 10-member committee will examine demands of the community for providing reservation in government jobs, reports said.

Many areas across Delhi had to face water crisis today because of agitation of Jats, said reports.

Nearly all areas falling south and east Delhi faced cut in water supply due to the strike called by local BKU and Lok Dal leaders in Muradnagar in Ghaziabad district, reports said.

A top Delhi government official said that city government was keeping in touch with their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh to restore water supply to the capital, said reports.

Two major water treatment plants, Sonia Vihar and Bhagirathi, which get water from the Upper Ganga canal and cater to 40% water requirements of the city, could not function because of non-supply of water, reports said.

Leaders of Akhil Bhartiya Jat Sangarsh Samiti (ABJSS) had suspended the water supply from the Upper Ganga Canal in Muradnagar, 25 km from here, on Sunday night.

Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed at the agitation site where the protestors took away the keys of the waterworks and threw them into the canal.

District magistrate R Ramesh Kumar said that he has informed the UP and Delhi governments about the agitation, said reports

ABJSS president chaudhry Yashpal Malik said that his group was demanding reservation in higher education and employment in both public and private sectors and also amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, to ban same-gotra weddings in the Jat community, reports said.

(Based on media reports)