Jats stir: Airfares hit the roof, 1,000 trains affected

New Delhi: The ongoing Jat protest for reservation has affected train services in a big way with as many as 736 having been cancelled. A total of 1,000 trains have been affected by the agitation in Haryana.

The Northern Railways in a statement said that the agitation has affected around 1,000 trains with 736 trains cancelled and 105 diverted. The agitators also damaged rail property, causing a loss of Rs 200 crore to the transporter.

The important rail routes to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, and Jammu and Kashmir have been badly affected due to the Jat agitation, said a senior railway ministry official. The New Delhi-Lahore bus service has also been affected by the agitation.

The Delhi-Rohtak-Bhat-inda and Delhi-Rewari-Jaipur, Delhi-Panipat-Ambala routes are the worst affected. Official of the Northern Railways said that the agitators have also led to largescale damage of railway properties. Ten stations were burnt, two railway eng-ines and two track machines damaged by agitators. Tracks were uprooted.

The loss to railways and damage rose to over Rs 200 crore now, he said. Premier trains like Jammu Rajdhani, Amrit-sar Shatabdi, Kalka and Chandigarh Shatabdi remained cancelled. Uttar Sampark Kranti, Punjab Mail, Jaipur Double-Decker, Jat Mail and Himalayan Queen are other popular trains that remained affected.

Airlines deploy more planes, fare hits Rs 1 lakh
With road and rail traffic severely disrupted through Haryana due to the Jat stir for quota, resulting in airfares on the Chandigarh-Delhi sector shooting up, the government stepped in on Sunday.

The civil aviation ministry asked airlines to operate additional flights between Delhi and Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur to enable stranded people reach their destinations, even as certain travel portal websites reportedly showed that a one-way airfare from Chandigarh to Delhi on Sunday had reached almost Rs 1 lakh.

However, the air-fares on this sector (one-way) on Sunday evening for a booking for Monday was showing a fare of Rs 15,000 to Rs 23,000 which in itself is quite high for an hour-long flight but there were hardly any seats at these fares.