As the state of Kashmir experienced one of the biggest tragedies in its history, in the form of floods, lack of communication services hampered most of the relief work as most of the telecom towers were submerged deep into the water.
The situation is improving fast now as the government machinery is engaged in normalizing the situation and now of the total 12,306 base transceiver stations (BTS) or mobile towers in Jammu and Kashmir, the government is able to restore 1208 base stations.
Of the total number of base stations, 6,811 were submerged. The Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has informed this. He also said that the people in flood-hit Kashmir will get free telecom services for a week on BSNL network.
“People in Jammu and Kashmir can talk free for a week on BSNL’s network in the flood affected areas. Private telecom operators have also allowed 60 minutes of free talk time everyday,” Prasad said. With the telecom infrastructure in the state in restoration mode, 8,000 landline connections in the Kashmir valley have also started working and the government has opened 5 free public calling booths (PCOs) at the airport in Sri Nagar.
Meanwhile, the state-owned BSNL is able to restore 92 mobile towers, which were affected by floods. Other private telecom operators including Bharti Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Aircel and RCOM have also restored their network in various parts of the state.
