Airline fares on the Delhi-Jaipur route have soared as trains are either getting delayed or being cancelled due to the ongoing protest by members of the Gujjar community, who are occupying the rail tracks to force the government hear their demands loud and clear. While the fares on the Delhi-Jaipur route have trebled, fares on other routes are increasing because runways — roads on which flights run before take off — are closed in Delhi and Bengaluru. Additionally, several flights are also getting cancelled, leading to shortage of seats and increase in fare.

“Due to the disruption of over 250 trains, the demand for last minute air travel saw a considerable spike. This in turn led to a substantial increase in flight fares. Travellers have ended up paying over three times the normal fare in sectors such as Delhi-Jaipur. While on any given day fares in this sector don’t tend to go above ₹5,000, today, they spiked to as high as ₹16,000 per ticket, “ Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder, ixigo, a travel and hotel booking portal told BusinessLine . An airline executive, which does not fly to Rajasthan, said: “It is hard to pin-point other influences”. The Delhi-Mumbai fares are impacted by runway closure, added the source.

With the protesters even setting up tents near train tracks, rail commuters are bearing the brunt. A commuter booked on a long distance train on Sunday said he got to know about the train’s cancellation only after reaching station though the website said the train was just delayed.

On February 12, the Railways announced cancellation of 26 trains. A total of 31 trains have been cancelled for February 13, 11 trains for February 14, and two for February 15. Routes and stations between which trains are getting cancelled are increasing. Cancelled trains now include those between Chandigarh and Goa, Mumbai and Ferozpur, Mumbai and Amritsar, Mumbai and Gorakhpur, Indore and New Delhi, Pune and Delhi, Kota and Patna, Jamnagar and Katra, and Delhi and Ahmedabad.

Also, trains are getting cancelled between Amritsar and Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Patna, Kota and Patna, Dehradun and Mumbai, and Kota and Nizammuddin. All these trains traverse via regions where protests are going on.

What the Gujjars want

Gujjars, a pastoral community, under the leadership of Lt Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, have been demanding five per cent reservation in education and jobs. They are not satisfied with the present reservation they get under the affirmative action programme.

They want the Centre to act as earlier attempts by the Rajasthan government to provide them preferential treatment did not cut ice.

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