Eighteen people have been killed and hundreds hurt in three days of riots.
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However, after BJP announced setting up of a committee to examine the quota demand of the community yesterday, fresh attempts were made to persuade the protesters to vacate the canal area.
Haryana state minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the situation was returning to normal, traffic had resumed on national highways and that railway lines between Delhi and the cities of Jaipur and Chandigarh had reopened.
“We will continue the protests”.
Reports said one of India’s largest carmakers, Maruti-Suzuki suspended the operations at its two plants in Haryana following the disruption in vehicular traffic.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Indian security forces were “trying to assess in how much time water would reach Delhi and whether any damage had been done to the canal”.
The Indian army has taken control of a canal that supplies three-fifths of Delhi’s water, the state’s chief minister said on Monday, raising hope that a water crisis in the metropolis of more than 16 million people can be averted.
Following the incidents of violence and arson, curfew was imposed in Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Hissar, Hansi, Sonipat and Gohana town of Sonipat. It said more discussions to end the protests were due to take place Monday evening.
Talks were held in Delhi Sunday between Jat leaders, national Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Haryana government run by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Earlier in the day, the government said that it will be able to partially restore the supply if it gets 400 cusecs water on Monday as the fix work has already started.
India has a policy of positive discrimination which provides quotas for “Dalits” (untouchables) and other classes called “backward” to counteract historical discrimination they suffer.
Police personnel disperse protesters of the rioting Jat caste group during a protest in Faridabad, Indian northern state of Haryana, Feb. 21, 2016.
The NH-10 (Delhi-Hisar) was still blocked at Sampla town, 25 km from Rohtak town.
The protesters had grown violent since Friday and resorted to arson targeting shops, malls, vehicles, government buildings, petrol pump, railway stations etc., besides looting an armory.
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“As per my information, the place from where the water is diverted is being properly guarded and the army is helping the local administration”, he told reporters in Delhi.
