In a bid to placate the Patidar community, Gujarat government today announced a commission of inquiry headed by a former High Court judge to probe alleged police atrocities on members of the community during the violent agitation for OBC quota two years ago.
The BJP government also announced allocation of Rs 500 crore to a corporation which would look after various needs of the communities which are outside the purview of reservations, including Patidars (Patels) who have been demanding a quota.
The inquiry commission will be headed by former Gujarat High Court judge K A Punj, said Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja in Gandhinagar today.
"The commission will also have former district judge Mahendra Patel as a member. Patel is currently a member of the State Human Rights Commission. The commission will probe various allegations of excessive use of force by police during the quota agitation in 2015," said Jadeja.
Earlier this week, the government gave nod for formation of a commission (Aayog) as well as a corporation to look after the interests of non-reserved communities after holding a meeting with Patidar leaders including Hardik Patel.
"The corporation will be formed with a paid-up capital of Rs 100 crore. We will also allocate Rs 500 crore to provide cheaper loans to farmers, students and entrepreneurs from non-reserved categories. This will benefit around 58 such castes (in non-reserved category) in the state," the minister said today.
"A separate commission will also be formed to advise government about formulating schemes for the welfare of non-reserved classes. The chairman and vice chairman of the commission will be from these castes," he said.
The government has already started the process of withdrawal of cases lodged against Patidar agitators, he said.
"As promised by us during the meeting, we have already withdrawn 109 out of the total 439 cases. We will take the decision of withdrawing remaining cases after analysing each of them," said Jadeja, adding that the decision had nothing to do with the Assembly polls which are due later this year.
On September 26, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel held a meeting with Hardik Patel and other quota leaders to try and reach a compromise formula, with apparent intention of pacifying them ahead of the elections.
Hardik Patel later said the meeting yielded no results and vowed to continue the agitation for quota.
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