Water supply to Delhi likely to be restored today

Protests by the Jat caste in neighbouring Haryana state have also paralysed road and rail links and killed at least 10 in a challenge to the authority of the state and national governments run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist party.

As job growth in India’s private sector has slowed, the Jat community has sought reinstatement of their lower-class caste status to qualify members for government jobs.

Monday’s killings took the death toll in caste violence to 19. “No piped water supply possible after tomorrow morning in 60 percent city including NDMC” Delhi’s Water Minister Kapil Mishra had said on Saturday.

Chandigarh/Bharatpur: Fresh firing took place on Monday in Haryana’s Sonipat and Kaithal districts as Jats demanding job quotas blocked the Delhi-Ambala highway, hours after traffic on it was restored. “People should use water carefully”, he said.

Following the incidents of violence and arson, curfew was imposed in Rohtak, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Hissar, Hansi, Sonipat and Gohana town of Sonipat.

The state government of Delhi has sounded an alert over water supplies and announced that schools in the city will remain closed Monday.

The Supreme Court rapped the Kejriwal government for approaching it for resumption of water supply to Delhi instead of resolving the problem at government level.

Over the years, the government has expanded the quotas to include other communities that are economically or socially disadvantaged.

With Haryana releasing additional water through the Yamuna, three of the plants started operations on Monday evening, giving some relief to North and Central Delhi.

Jat leaders on Monday appealed for the protest to end after the BJP, which governs the state of Haryana, appointed a committee to look into protesters’ demands.

India has a policy of positive discrimination which provides quotas for “Dalits” (untouchables) and other classes called “backward” to counteract historical discrimination they suffer.

“Let’s see how they respond as they are spread across Haryana”, Jat leader Hawa Singh Sangwan told CNN.

Disruption caused by the latest round of protests by Jats included cancellation of 850 trains, closure of 500 factories and estimated business losses of about $3 billion, Reuters reported.

Protesters have attacked the homes of regional ministers, torched railway stations and staged sit-ins on tracks, blocking hundreds of trains.