Restore 4G connection in J&K, Farooq tells PM

He highlights various problems due to lack of the facility

January 17, 2021 11:45 pm | Updated 11:45 pm IST - Jammu

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah speaks during a meeting with his party workers a day after the District Development Council elections results in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. An alliance of political parties opposed to New Delhi’s policies in Kashmir has won a majority of seats in local elections, the first since New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semiautonomous status and took direct control last year. The alliance, which is pro-India but favors self-governance for Kashmir, won 112 out of a total of 280 seats in District Development Council elections. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah speaks during a meeting with his party workers a day after the District Development Council elections results in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. An alliance of political parties opposed to New Delhi’s policies in Kashmir has won a majority of seats in local elections, the first since New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semiautonomous status and took direct control last year. The alliance, which is pro-India but favors self-governance for Kashmir, won 112 out of a total of 280 seats in District Development Council elections. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Sunday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restore 4G mobile internet services in Jammu and Kashmir as he highlighted various problems due to lack of the facility and the harsh winter in the Union Territory.

He prayed for the success of the COVID-19 vaccine and urged people to maintain communal harmony and brotherhood at all costs for overall prosperity and development.

“The Prime Minister is saying 5G is coming in India while we are deprived of 4G (mobile internet service). May he come and live here after leaving the chair and see how we are living under 2G (service),” Mr. Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of the erstwhile State, said at a book release function here.

The 4G mobile internet service was snapped across Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 following revocation of special status and bifurcation of the erstwhile State into two Union Territories.

While the service was restored in two districts, Udhampur in Jammu and Ganderbal in Kashmir, after over a year, it is still suspended in rest of the 18 districts.

The well-attended function was organised by Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust to release the biography of its patron-in-chief Masud Ahmad Choudhary, a retired Additional Director General of Police and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (Rajouri).

“Students are sitting in their homes and getting education through internet and the businessmen are also dependent on internet connectivity. My request to the Prime Minister is that if you are saying this place is on the path of development, give us 4G for the sake of god so that we too can benefit and our children move forward,” Mr. Abdullah said.

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