x

Like our Facebook Page

   
Early Times Newspaper Jammu, Leading Newspaper Jammu
 
Breaking News :   Previous records set to tumble | The Incomplete Return: Revisiting the Home We Never Lived In | Healing Wounds - Reviving Tourism in Kashmir | Turning Pages in a Scrolling World: The Quiet Return of Reading | Decades-old Kashmiri Pandit killing cases may reopen following LG’s initiative | Doda’s deadly roads: Fatal accidents persist | BJP misleading people of J&K and country on Omar Govt’s performance: Surinder Choudhary | HC reject pre-arrest bail in PMLA of Master-Mind in fake Cryptocurrency case | Robbery case solved Jammu police | Trials for upcoming national Netball championships | BIS JKBO Organizes "Manak Conclave" for Industries and Stakeholders Engagement in Kathua | Health & Education pillars of J&K's progress and prosperity: CM Omar Abdullah | CISF Wins 64 Medals at World Police and Fire Games 2025 in the USA | HC reject bail plea of Narco Terrorism | Another batch of pilgrims leaves Jammu for Amarnath Shrine | BJP Jammu & Kashmir holds joint organizational meeting | Swachhta Internship Program launched to foster cleanliness culture in schools | Reasi police nabs drug peddler; 509.930 grams of cannabis recovered | JKNC delegation meets Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary | Nominations for Padma Awards-2026 open till 31st July, 2025 | UIDAI urges parents and guardians to update children's Aadhaar biometrics; free between ages 5 and 7 | Gold declines Rs 200 to Rs 99,370/ 10 G; Silver plunges Rs 3,000 to Rs 1.12 lakh/kg | Ladakh Administration reopens property return portal for final time till July 30 | Tony leads delegation of Trikuta Nagar to JMC Commissioner, submits memorandum | CM Pushkar Singh Dhami meets Union Health Minister JP Nadda in Delhi | CM Yogi's Gram-Urja model to transform rural Uttar Pradesh into self-reliant, energy-rich villages | NFR's Seamless Electric Traction upto Dibrugarh & Naharlagun makes ease in Railway Transportation system for NE | DLSA Udhampur convenes UTRC meeting | Skilled youth are the backbone of self-reliant India: CM Yogi | Army organises Quiz Competition on Agra Summit | Children, Adolescent groups formed at Rajouri | Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution chairs review meeting with UT Ladakh Administration | SMVDNSH Katra achieves milestone with first neuro-navigation guided brain tumor surgery | Udhampur police busts Inter-State Gold fraud; accused arrested within 24 bours | Jammu Police seizes two tippers for Illegal Mining | J&K cadets script history on Mt Everest” | Kidnapped girl traced, accused arrested by Doda Police | UTDRF Doda unit organizes disaster awareness session | DC Srinagar reviews progress of construction of Panchayat Ghars | APS Damana hosts prestigious, spirited Inter-APSs cluster-I hindi debate competition | Udhampur Police book another Notorious bovine smuggler | J&K clinches Gold at National ODOP Awards 2024 for second consecutive year | Inter District Division Level Youth organizes Exchange Programme | Chairman DLSA emphasizes vital role of UTRC meetings in strengthening criminal justice system | Gill didn't look as technically tight or calm as usual: Vaughan | Happy to silence the the keyboard warriors: Jofra Archer | BLSKS observes “World Youth Skills Day 2025” | Back Issues  
 
news details
Shocking; Cellular companies ask Valley subscribers to pay for gaged period
Is JK Admin playing proverbial Ostrich?
10/14/2019 10:23:33 PM
Early Times Report

Jammu, Oct 14: After remaining shut for more than two months, cellular companies on Monday shocked lakhs of their subscribers, asking them to clear pending bill, generated during the gag period, to use the voice call services. On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir administration lifted the gag it has imposed on mobile telephony more than two and a half months ago on August 5 when the union government decided to scrap Article 370.
Now when after more than two months had passed and the government finally decided to lift the gag, the cellular companies seem to have been acting as s spoilsport by asking their subscribers to clear the bills generated during the gag period.
On Monday, when every post paid cell phone user was anxious awaiting to see his phone turning functional again, thousands of them were taken aback when they tried to make calls and they were asked by the automated voice to clear the pending bills before using the voice call service. "This is unprecedented, unethical and unnatural. How could the companies ask us to pay the bills for the period when we didnt even use the services. How could these business houses be so erratic and irrational?," asked Mubeen Ahmad, a old city resident who was desperately trying to make call to his younger brother, studying at present in Punjab.
There were several others who asked the government to intervene and stop this open plunder of peoples' money. "One wonders that what is the government really doing. Is it not in knowledge of the fact that the mobile users didnt use the cell phone services for more than two months. How come the cell phone companies ask its subscribers to pay the bills fo the gag period. This should have been resolved by the government ahead of restoring the communications in Kashmir. Or else this could be safe to assume that the government is hand in glove with these companies who are looting people with absolute impunity," says another aggrieved cell phone user who has been asked to pay more than 450 rupees as a bill generated in August and September.
Pertinently, The Cellular Operators Association of India an amalgam of GSM mobile players, had revealed that the overall telecom industry operating in the valley suffers the loss of Rs 2 crores on daily basis when the calling and data services are suspended. The present communication gag is longest in a decade. "In 2016, internet was suspended in Kashmir for 133 days but V-Sat, landline broadband and lease lines were operational. This time, the case is different at all. There is a complete blackout this time around.
According to a recent study conducted by International Council on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) which states that, "The anatomy of the internet blackout: Measuring the economic impact of internet shutdowns in India has stated in their study that 34 internet shutdowns in the year 2017 caused losses worth 1776 crores to the valleys economy.
  Share This News with Your Friends on Social Network  
  Comment on this Story  
 
 
 
Early Times Android App
STOCK UPDATE
  
BSE Sensex
NSE Nifty
 
CRICKET UPDATE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
Home About Us Top Stories Local News National News Sports News Opinion Editorial ET Cetra Advertise with Us ET E-paper
 
 
J&K RELATED WEBSITES
J&K Govt. Official website
Jammu Kashmir Tourism
JKTDC
Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board
Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board
Shri Shiv Khori Shrine Board
UTILITY
Train Enquiry
IRCTC
Matavaishnodevi
BSNL
Jammu Kashmir Bank
State Bank of India
PUBLIC INTEREST
Passport Department
Income Tax Department
JK CAMPA
JK GAD
IT Education
Web Site Design Services
EDUCATION
Jammu University
Jammu University Results
JKBOSE
Kashmir University
IGNOU Jammu Center
SMVDU