As the communication shutdown across Valley entered into third straight day Friday, people have lost connection with their ailing relatives, especially those quarantined in Kashmir.
People living outside the Valley highlighted problems theywere facing after authorities suspended mobile and 2G internet services onWednesday leaving only government-owned BSNL and Broadband functional withlimited network.
“My uncle is on a ventilator with Coronavirus in the hospital. He is old & has several comorbid conditions. With internet and private phone services blocked in Kashmir, there’s no way to know how he’s doing. Father tries hard not to break down on phone. This is life in Kashmir,” =a UK-based lawyer, Sameer Rashid Bhat wrote on Twitter.
The medicos also complained that suspension of mobile andinternet service has hit them hard. “Ok so we had to send back patients whocame for emergency surgeries..however urgent it was, we sent them back.. Oh didu ask why? Didn’t I mention we had no phone connectivity to call our OT staffand no way whatsoever to know if they were ok,” wrote Dr Shazia Shafi onTwitter.
People also complained of not being able to get throughacross to doctors due to suspension of services of private mobile operators.”My father who suffers from Aortic regurgitation (AR) complained of chestdiscomfort and tried calling many cardiologists but to no avail since none ofthem had BSNL numbers. He sat motionless clutching his chest with both hands.Communication blockade will kill people in Kashmir,” Shakir Mir, a journalistwrote on Twitter.
The communication shutdown has also taken toll on Kashmirisworking across various cities of the country. While they remain stranded due tothe lockdown, they are unable to call their families back home. “Video callswith me, however slow they were, a couple of times a day were helping my ailingparents cope up with the present crisis. They were distressed to know thatmobile internet was snapped. Now I can’t make a voice call either. Mobile phoneand internet snapped in Kashmir (sic),” wrote Vijdan Kawoosa, a Kashmirijournalist working in Delhi on Twitter.
The student community is also bearing the brunt of thecommunication shutdown. Marya Andleeb, an engineering graduate told GreaterKashmir that due to low internet speed of broadband she was suffering a lot. “Iam unable to use mandatory education resources for my preparations of variousnational and international engineering examinations,” Andleeb said.
“The situation is unbearable for the students as we arelosing our crucial time. All the educational android apps are not loadingleaving us frustrated,” Andleeb said.
Communication shutdown has also hit hundreds of NGOs acrossthe Valley who have played an important role during the lockdown owing toCovid-19 distributing thousands of food kits to needy, protective facemasks andPPE kits among medical teams.
At a time when Information Technology is being used as amajor tool to fight Covid-19, the suspension of mobile and 2G internet is amajor setback for contact tracing, sources said.
Suspension of 2G internet service makes the contact tracingapps such as “Aarogya Setu” and “Talaash” of no use as it is mainly based onGlobal Positioning System ( GPS) technology, they said.