Farmers protest by climbing cellphone tower

Five farmers climbed a cellphone tower in Nalgonda on Tuesday as a form of protest against the inordinate delay on the State government’s part in payment of compensation. The farmers stated that their several requests to the Collector, MP and the Minister did not yield results, hence they are resorting to this step.While two of the oustee farmers of the Pendlipaka reservoir area descended after half hour, the others continued to protest atop the BSNL tower on the Collectorate campus for nearly 150 minutes.

Disaster Response and Fire Services officials who reached the spot requested the farmers to get down stating that the tower could pose danger due to the weather. However, the farmers denied the request saying that they had come prepared to die.

They revealed regarding borrowing money to buy new land after the Collector assured compensation in less than a month, but they have been unpaid for two years.

Another 20 farmers hailing from the Ghazi Nagar gram panchayat too joined the protest at the foot of the tower till the District Collector Gaurav Uppal arrived in the evening.The Collector assured the protesting farmers that the compensation as fixed earlier (Rs. 5.15 lakh per acre) would be released in three days.