Govt yet to step up security around water tanks, towers

Himanshu Kumar Lall

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 24

Climbing atop the water tanks and mobile towers has become a trend of sorts among the protesters in the state pressing for their demands.

The frequent incidents of climbing atop mobile towers and water tanks in Dehradun have raised questions on the security around the towers.

The state government is yet to take steps to strengthen security around the towers, despite an incident in which National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) leader Rohit Pandey had succumbed to burn injuries after he climbed a water tank at Ramnagar in Nainital and set himself ablaze.

The latest incident occurred on Tuesday when two differently-abled persons, under the banner of the Nanda Devi Nirdhan Viklang Kalyan Association, climbed atop a water tank on the Municipal Corporation campus in Dehradun.

The incident kept the police and the district administration on their toes to prevent any untoward incident as both the agitators took a petrol bottle with them to set themselves ablaze.

The tall claims made by the Congress-led state government to step up security around the water tanks and mobile towers seem to have fallen flat as four such incidents have been reported since September this year.

Uttarakhand Andolankari Samman Parishad chairman Dheerandra Pratap strongly condemned such protests. He said protesters from different associations should avoid climbing atop the water tanks and mobile towers.

He said the Congress-led government was committed to addressing grievances of the protesters, but through bilateral talks.

“The Nainital district administration has fenced the area around water tanks and mobile towers,” he added.

He said strict instructions were given to the Jal Sansthan, Peyjal Nigam and other agencies to deploy security personnel at towers to prevent such incidents in the near future.

A senior police officer admitted that it was difficult for the department to deploy additional policemen at all water tanks or mobile towers.

He said it was the duty of the mobile tower companies to deploy security guards.