VIJAYAWADA: A B.Tech student climbed a cell tower at Ramavarappadu here on Wednesday, demanding that reservations in jobs and education should not be on the basis of caste but on economic backwardness.
Though police were there, they did not notice the student Ravi Theja, climbing the tower as they were busy keeping an eye on a group of students who were staging a demonstration for quota in jobs on the basis of economic backwardness and also 10 per cent bonus marks in examinations to the students from the poorer sections of society and from those who are from villages.
After scaling three fourths of the height of the tower, Ravi Theja sat down and dropped a piece of paper listing out his demands.
He said he would not come down unless his demands are met and that he would jump from there if anyone tried to reach him.
The police managed to get his phone number and were trying to persuade him to come down but the youth stuck to his guns.
As there is a possibility that he might jump, they had fixed nets at the tower to prevent him from crashing to the ground.
Interestingly, Ravi Theja also demanded that film actor and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan should react to the need for reservations on economic backwardness of the students. It is time Pawan Kalyan made his stand known since he supported the demands of the kapus for inclusion among the BCs, he said.