A group of farmers from Tamil Nadu on Wednesday held a protest at the Capital’s Jantar Mantar demanding better prices for their crops and interlinking of rivers, the police said. The protesters said that if their needs were not met they would contest the Lok Sabha polls against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh.
According to a senior Delhi Police officer, two protesters - one man and a woman, climbed a mobile phone tower while staging the protest.
“Around 50 people have gathered at Jantar Mantar for the issue of interlinking of rivers. Two tried to climb the mobile tower but are on the ground now,” said DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla.
Another senior police officer said fire brigade cranes were used to bring the protesting farmers from the tower.
The farmers demanded a doubling of their income from farm produce, a pension of ₹5,000, individual insurance and nationwide interlinking of rivers.
They said if their demands were not met they would contest the Lok Sabha polls against Mr. Modi.
A senior official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said they got a call about the protest and reached the location with sky lifts and the farmers were removed from the tower.
“The team received a call at 9.34 a.m. 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 phone tower. Our team rescued them as well,” a senior DFS official said.
“No one received any injury during the entire operation,” the official said.
