Patna: Hundreds of Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and tribal outfits on Tuesday enforced a shutdown in many parts of the state demanding promulgation of Ordinance to secure the forest rights of Adivasis.
The protestors halted rail and road traffic across Bihar as they joined a nation-wide call for shutdown. Slogans were raised against the union government for their alleged anti-reservation policy.
The shutdown called by the group affected the train services as the mob stopped over a dozen long-route trains in Ara, Jehanabad, Patna,
Various important arterial roads were blocked as the groups protested against University Grants Commission's new 13-point roster system that will reduce jobs for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.
The tribals were protesting against a Supreme Court order evicting more than 10 lakh families of Adivasis and other forest-dwellers from forest lands across 16 states.
The shutdown is supported by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Left parties and other opposition members.
"The state administration has made elaborate security arrangements in view of the shutdown," said a senior government official.
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