Unhappy over stalled promotion, pay discrimination between different ranks and corruption in his organisation, an Assam Rifles constable climbed a transmission tower at Sarai Kale Khan in New Delhi on Sunday amid high drama that lasted for more than seven hours before he was eventually convinced to climb down.
Carrying a bag containing food items, a pen and a bunch of papers, Vikas Chandra Borai, 37, climbed atop the tower with high tension power lines around noon.
“We received a call at the Police Control Room saying that an Army man had climbed the high tension tower following which the local police officers reached the spot. The constable scribbled his grievances on papers and threw them down to communicate with the police. He was unhappy over delayed promotion and discrimination between the pay scales of different ranks as recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission. He also complained of corruption in his organisation,” said a senior police officer.
When all efforts to persuade him to come down failed, the police called senior officers of the Assam Rifles to the spot to speak to him. “He would climb down halfway to the tower to speak to his seniors and again climb up. It continued for long and the constable was eventually persuaded to climb down a Delhi Fire Service crane was pressed into service to facilitate his seniors to reach up to him on a hydraulic lift and persuade him,” said an eye-witness.
A resident of Uttarakhand, Vikas, is presently posted in Shillong. “He has not got promotion during the past 17 years. He took a leave and came to Delhi to highlight his case by climbing up the tower,” said the officer.
