IANS/ PTI
CHANDIGARH, FEBRUARY 20
Five more people were killed in Haryana on Saturday as the violence linked to the Jat agitation escalated, forcing the state government to seek additional columns of the Army and more companies of paramilitary forces to control the situation.
“Four people lost their lives in district Jhajjar when armed forces opened fire to quell arson and firing, and one was killed in district Kaithal. Five people were injured in district Rohtak. Apart from this, 10 people, including some police personnel, were injured in district Jhajjar,” a state government spokesman said here.
Three people were killed in firing by security forces in Rohtak on Friday.
The request for additional security forces came as Haryana remained on the boil on Saturday due to violence by Jat protestors in several districts.
As violence spread to more areas in Haryana over the Jat quota agitation, curfew was clamped in Jind, Hisar and Hansi districts.
The authorities clamped curfew in Jind in view of some violent incidents that included setting afire three Haryana Roadways buses int he district by agitating Jats.
Army, paramilitary and police conducted a flag march in Jind, where incidents of violence were reported from various places including Julana, Uchana and Pilukhera.
Curfew has been imposed from 8 pm to 6 am in Hisar and Hansi as a precautionary measure.
Earlier today, the Sonipat district administration had clamped curfew in the city and Gohana town of the district.
Curfew has now been imposed in at least 8 towns in Haryana in the wake of incidents of violence during agitation.
Curfew had already been clamped in Rohtak, Bhiwani and Jhajjar towns.
The losses due to government and private property being set on fire, buses and private vehicles being burnt, roads and highways being blocked, trains being disrupted and tracks being uprooted and free-for-all in looting and arson by hooligans, could run into thousands of crores.
India’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki shut down its Manesar and Gurgaon plants – which produce 5,000 cars per day – owing to shortage of components due to the week-long agitation which has severely affected road and rail traffic.
“The requisition for additional force was made by Crisis Management Group comprising the chief secretary, additional chief secretary, home and director general of police who held a meeting with union cabinet secretary, chief of army staff, chief of air force and Director IB through video conference from here,” the spokesman said.
He said that the people behind the violence were being identified and 154 First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered.
“Army and police personnel have been deployed in adequate number in Rohtak to control the situation. 15 companies of India Reserve Battalion and Haryana Armed Police, three companies of paramilitary forces and two columns of army have already been deployed,” the spokesman said.
Jat leaders spearheading the agitation also rebuffed a call to end the agitation by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar who said his government had accepted “all demands” of the community which consitutes 26% of the state’s 2.64-crore population.
Joint teams of the army and police carried out a flag march in Bhiwani town on Saturday, urging people not to come out of their houses as curfew had been imposed and to maintain peace in their areas.
