Delhi: Safe within but trouble brews around it

The Gujjars may have blocked the entry points to Delhi, but their day-long call for shutdown to demand Scheduled Tribe status in Rajasthan has hardly had an impact within Delhi itself.

Even though Gujjar leaders, who own 25 per cent of the private buses in the city, decided not to ply their vehicles on the roads the traffic in the city was moving smoothly.

"So far, we have no news from anywhere in the capital about any incident involving the Gujjars turning violent," an official posted at Delhi police's information section told rediff.com.

According to senior officials, one of the additional reason for ensuring a smooth traffic flow in the capital was the presence of the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is on a three-day state visit to India.

"Since he would be travelling within Delhi and visiting places like Rajghat, we cannot afford to be lax about it," an official said.

However, encouraging reports have not been coming in from areas bordering Delhi like Faridabad, Gurgoan and Bahadhurgarh.

Faridabad resident A Bhattacharya had to start at 8 am to reach South Block in Central Delhi so that he could avoid trouble. His plans went awry as he touched the Delhi-Faridabad national highway, where he was waylaid by violent Gujjars.

"I somehow managed to reach office," he said.

The Delhi-Noida road has been sealed and nobody is being allowed to cross over to Delhi.

Similarly, those wanting to travel from Gurgoan to Delhi have been told to go back to their residence.

A senior editor of a leading realty magazine was forced to stay at home in Gurgoan. "I do not want to take a risk," he said.

In fact, media-persons were the target of attack by those supporting the shutdown.

For those travelling long distance, the news that the Delhi Metro was running on schedule came as a shot in the arm.

"If the Metro had been disrupted there would have been massive problem," admitted a Congress politician.

Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh has been receiving visitors from the party and other sections of society. Though he refused to comment on the developments in Rajasthan, he seemed hopeful that the matter will be resolved amicably.