2nd day of strike against Jharkhand govt over recruitment policy: 'Situation is peaceful,' says police

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], June 11 : The situation is peaceful across Ranchi on the second day of the 48-hour strike (bandh) called by scores of students under the banner of Jharkhand State Student's Union against the state government's revised recruitment policy, police said on Sunday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Kotwal Prakash Soy said, "The situation is peaceful so far. Security forces have been deployed across the city to maintain law and order".

"No untoward incident has been reported since Yesterday. We are continuously monitoring the situation," Dy SP said.

He said that shops are opening normally in the city. "If the bandh is forced on us, we might take action tomorrow," the official further warned protesters.

Recently, the Jharkhand government brought a recruitment policy of '60:40' under which 60 per cent of seats are reserved for aspirants from the State, while the remaining 40 per cent of seats are open to all.

Earlier in March, hundreds of students organized a 'Naya Vidhan Sabha Adhikaar March' in order to gherao the State Legislative Assembly premises, where proceedings of the last day of the Budget session were going on.

Police stopped the protestors nearly 1 km before the Legislative Assembly by barricading and heavy force deployment in the area. But the students veered from the route and went to fields in order to reach the Assembly.

Jharkhand police had resorted to lathi-charge and fired tear gas at the agitators, in a bid to disperse them. The situation then turned violent after students pelted stones at the police. Five students including student leader Jairam Mahato were detained by the police.