PTI

Jaipur, Jun 4: Gujjar protesters on Wednesday held sway blocking a key rail track in Dausa district leaving several trains suspended and disrupting traffic on a highway linking Rajasthan with Madhya Pradesh as security forces kept a close watch in the violence-hit areas.

Scores of women protesters put up wooden logs on the Jaipur-Delhi rail track at Shyamlawas, 3 kms from Bandikui railway station in Dausa, blocking train traffic for the third day to press the Gujjar demand for ST status, Dausa collector Rajesh Yadav said.

Twelve women protesters, who tried to shut down a market in Bandikui, were arrested on Tuesday and later released on bail, Yadav said.

In the stir-hit Sawaimadhopur district, the hundreds of agitators held a sit in on the highway linking the area with Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, district collector Debashish Prutsy said. Traffic on the crucial highway has been thrown out of gear.

Contingents of security forces including columns from the army maintained a close vigil on the protesters in Dausa, Bharatpur and Sawadimadhopur districts, reports reaching Jaipur said.

With postmortem being conducted on the bodies of Gujjars killed in police firing and clashes, the process of cremating them was on in various areas of the state, they said.

As many as 12 important passenger trains remained cancelled while several others were diverted, a North Western Railway spokesman said, adding that a loss of Rs 50 lakh per day was being incurred as a result of the stir.