Man climbs mobile tower to protest demolition drive

Dehradun: The demolition drive in the city faced a bizarre form of protest on Wednesday as a 41-year-old man climbed on top of a mobile phone tower alleging that the authorities have marked his shop as well as other establishments in the area wrongly.
The man, Rajkumar, said that the marking team had wrongly marked his home and shop in the Ajabpur area for demolition while sparing the opposite side of the road. “We have lived in the area for decades now. They just came and demolished my shop and home without even giving any warning. They didn’t even touch the opposite side of the road,” he said.
The man who remained on top of the tower for a few hours was eventually persuaded in late afternoon to come down by the SDM who promised to look into the matter. SDM Pratyush Singh said, “The man was complaining against the marking and demolition drive so we have promised that we will look into the matter and see what can be done.”
While Rajkumar was taken to the police station soon after, officials present at the spot told TOI that he was drunk and will be taken for medical examination. A case might be registered against him, officials said.
Rajkumar’s mother told TOI that the demolished shop was their only means of survival. “We are a family of five and since the source of our earning has been demolished, he wanted to end his life,” she said.