500 days of 4G Internet ban in J&K: Economic costs soar

Srinagar: As many as five hundred days have passed since the government imposed a ban on high speed 4G mobile data services in Jammu and Kashmir, and the economic and social costs of the measure are just soaring. Even as the ban has lately been lifted in the districts of Ganderbal in Kashmir and Udhampur in Jammu division, the government has recently extended the ban till December 25 in rest of J&K.

The 4G and 3G mobile internet services are suspended across J&K since August 5, 2019, when the central government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile State into two Union Territories.

The ban on high speed internet services has crippled many sectors of the economy – with students, traders requiring to fulfill their business and tax compliance online, hospitality and medical sectors bearing the brunt of the ban. The ban has completed 500 days yesterday on Wednesday, since August 5, 2019.

Talking to KNO, Kashmir Hotels and Restaurant Owners Federation (KHAROF) president, Wahid Malik said that every section of the society, especially students, have been suffering due to the ongoing ban on the high speed mobile data services.

He said although the broadband and other connections are available at some hotels, the clients who have started visiting Kashmir are facing hardships as they want to connect with their friends and families during outings.

“We appeal the government to restore the high speed mobile data services in Jammu and Kashmir at earliest so that the people here as well as the visitors could heave a sigh of relief,” he said.

Adil Ahmad, a student, who recently appeared in Class 12^th examinations, told KNO that the students are being pushed to the wall due to the continuous restrictions on 3G and 4G mobile internet services.

He said the students belonging to middle and lower social strata of the society cannot afford broadband and other costly high speed connections, creating a new digital divide, with a large proportion of students getting deprived of high speed Internet.

Ahmad also added that in the recently-conducted examinations, students like him faced lot of hardships to collect the study material on Internet due to slow-speed internet services.

“We were being forced to pay at local internet café to download the study material most of the times during the examinations,” Ahmad said.

Amid difficulties being faced by the people, there is still no word from the government as to when the restoration of high speed mobile data services is planned. —(KNO)