As train and road traffic remained paralysed, airfares to and from Chandigarh zoomed, rising, in some cases, to over Rs 30,000 for a flight to Delhi.
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By evening agitators had blocked roads connecting Delhi and Haryana in Baghpat and Shamli towns of western UP. Youths who are at the forefront should also join talks.
In Gurgaon, two Railway stations were set on fire by the agitators while in Bhiwani a cooperative bank was set afire by protesters.
The request for additional security forces came as Haryana remained on the boil on Saturday due to violence by Jat protestors in several districts.
The “Sada-e-Sarhad” bus service between Delhi and Lahore and the Samjhauta Express link train from Delhi to Attari (Punjab) have also been affected.
Besides Rohtak and Bhiwani, where curfew was imposed on Saturday, fresh curfew was imposed in Jind, Sonepat, Bahadurgarh and Jhajjar. “The BJP government has totally failed to solve it after creating the problem”, Surjewala said. Another attack had taken place in Bhiwani, where alleged BJP supporters had set on fire a Jat dharamsala and also indulged in vandalism, Chautala claimed. The record room, furniture and other articles were set on fire at the railway station, which falls on the Jind-Panipat rail section, police said.
“Army and police personnel have been deployed in adequate number in Rohtak to control the situation”.
Looting and arson continued in the town through Friday night with unruly mobs targeting malls, shops and other buildings and many of them were set on fire.
As the Jat protests spread to more areas, Haryana Police Chief Yashpal Singhal today said it was taking time to bring the situation under control as the stir, which has left one dead and 78 injured, was not being spearheaded by any one particular leader.
An official release said tonight that five persons were killed “when Armed Forces opened fire to quell arson and firing” by the protesters.
Many people including some policemen were also reported injured in the clashes that continued on second day. “One patient, who was critically injured, was operated upon but he died few minutes ago”, hospital authorities in Rohtak said on Saturday.
On Friday, the agitation intensified and resulted in the death of three people and injuries to almost 100 people, including security personnel.
“The losses of traders and businessmen could run into hundreds of crores due to this mindless violence”.
The state’s Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Saturday again appealed for calm and urged people not to damage public property.
Khattar’s predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda, of the Congress party, said that he would start a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday.
Appealing to protesters to end their stir, Khattar had yesterday asked the agitators to “return to their homes as the Government has accepted their demands”.
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The Indian army used helicopters to ferry men to affected areas for staging a flag march and enforcing a curfew after the protesters blocked roads.
