Jaipur: Gopal has spent more 36 hours on top of a power grid tower in Rajasthan'sSikar district. The 50-year-old farmer has refused to come down, ignoring the entreaties of officials and villagers.
He says he will come down only when the government gives him Rs 20 lakh as compensation for losing crops. He claims that the 200-foot tower was built on his farm land and gives off electric current, which makes it dangerous for his family to till the land.
Since it came up in 2013, Gopal says, he and his family have suffered major losses.
His brother Nemichand says, "Carrots, radishes, wheat, maize... we cannot plant anything and our crops are suffering in both seasons. My brother will not come down from that tower till we get compensation. We want Rs 20 lakh."
Officials from the district and the National Power Grid Corporation, which built the tower, have taken a quick look at the records.
The government has paid Gopal Rs 74,000 as compensation and still owes him Rs 1.87 lakh.
Officials are waiting at the foot of the tower with a cheque but the farmer has refused to budge.
Pushkar Dutta, a senior district official, said, "We are standing here with the cheque but he is on the tower 20 feet above us, and as you heard, he wants Rs 20 lakh. We are persuading him to come down as the balance amount due to him is just 1,87,000. If there is some other problem, then he should come down and discuss it."
But it is people living in the neighbourhood who are most eager for Gopal to come down; the power grid corporation cut off power to the area after Gopal decided to make the tower his perch.