Protesting Tamil Nadu Farmers Climb Mobile Tower In Jantar Mantar

A few farmers from Tamil Nadu, including a woman, on Wednesday climbed onto a mobile tower as they protested at Delhi's Jantar Mantar over demands of better prices for their crops and the river interlinking issue, officials said.

Scores of Tamil Nadu farmers gathered at Jantar Mantar, some of who climbed nearby trees and a mobile tower, police said. Police used a fire brigade crane to bring the farmers back to the ground from the mobile tower, they said.

"Around 50 people have come for interlinking of rivers. Two of them tried climbing a mobile tower but they returned back to the ground," Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla said, adding that some of them tried climbing trees at the site.

Protesting farmers said around 100 farmers from Tamil Nadu participated in the demonstration. The farmers said they are demanding a doubling of their income from farm produce, a pension of Rs 5,000, individual insurance, and interlinking of all rivers in India. If their demands were not met they would contest the Lok Sabha polls against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi constituency, the farmers said.

A senior official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said that they got a call about the protest and reached the location with sky lifts and the farmers were removed from the mobile tower.
"First call we received at 9.34 am that some people climbed a mobile tower at Jantar Mantar. Our rescue team rushed to the spot and rescued two people from the first location. We received another call from Kerala Bhawan that four persons have climbed another mobile tower. Our team rescued them as well," a senior DFS official said. "No one received any injury during the entire operation," the official said.