Day 20: No word on restoring 21,500 broadband lines

SRINAGAR: With the Kashmir lockdown completing 20 days, there is no word from the government on restoring over 21,000 broadband connections in the restive valley which has many residents angry over the abrogation of Article 370 and its changeover to two Union Territories (UTs).

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 23

With the Kashmir lockdown completing 20 days, there is no word from the government on restoring over 21,000 broadband connections in the restive valley which has many residents angry over the abrogation of Article 370 and its changeover to two Union Territories (UTs).

As per official figures, the 10 districts of Kashmir valley have over 44,000 BSNL landline connections and 21,500 dedicated broadband Internet connections.

Though the government spokesman Rohit Kansal in his last media briefings had claimed that 76,000 out of the total 96,000 landlines in the whole of J&K, including Ladakh, have been restored as, according to him, “normalcy has returned”, but he failed to furnish details about the total number of telephone landlines restored in the restive Kashmir region which is under communications lockdown and shutdown for the past sometime.

A senior BSNL official said the Srinagar region, comprising Srinagar, Ganderbal and Budgam district, had 32,000 landlines and 15,000 broadband connections. Except for the restoration of some telephone exchanges in Srinagar district, a majority of the 32,000 landlines in the Srinagar region are still not working, while broadband connections have still not been restored, sources in the BSNL said.

Likewise in the Baramulla region, comprising Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara districts, a majority of the nearly 5,000 telephone lines have not been restored yet and 2,500 broadband connections are still not functioning, they said.

The south Kashmir region, comprising Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam district, is still incommunicado since August 5, with a majority of the total 7,000 landlines in the region not yet restored by the authorities, sources said.

They said south Kashmir had over 4,000 broadband Internet connections which continued to be blocked.

Besides, the leaseline Internet connections of different commercial establishments and media houses and newspapers have still not been restored by the authorities.

Exchanges not working

As per official figures, the 10 districts of Kashmir valley have over 44,000 BSNL landline connections and 21,500 dedicated broadband Internet connections.
A senior BSNL official said the Srinagar region, comprising Srinagar, Ganderbal and Budgam district, had 32,000 landlines and 15,000 broadband connections.
Except for the restoration of some telephone exchanges in Srinagar district, a majority of the 32,000 landlines in the Srinagar region are still not working, while broadband connections have still not been restored, sources in the BSNL said.