Tura, Jan 5th: The five districts of Garo Hills are reeling from an internet disruption by the biggest service provider Bsnl for well over 21 long hours, Since 4 PM of January 4th, and there is no restoration so far due to cutting of the high optics fiber connectivity at two different locations within a span of four hours beginning Thursday afternoon.
This is the second time in less than a month that the entire internet connectivity went down in the region, and it comes barely a week after Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma proudly announced the results of a high speed internet speed that is to be provided across the state.
The Department of Telecoms mother internet provider across the country- BSNL lost its link to Garo Hills around 4 Pm January 4th when the fiber got cut during the ongoing road expansion work in Goalpara, Assam.
As efforts were underway to get the connection restored a second disruption occurred shortly after 8 Pm, the same night.
The second cable cut occured on the Jengjal to Tura route where a road construction crew tasked by the PWD for road repair works punctured the fiber optic cables running underground literally cutting off Garo Hills from all internet connectivity provided by BSNL.
Only private providers such as Jio and others including the VSat system was working while a majority of consumers are reeling under the disruption since yesterday.
The road construction team in Jengjal were undertaking emergency repairs ahead of the visit of President of India Droupadi Murmu who is scheduled to land at Jengjal’s Baljek airport and travel by road to Tura to open the Meghalaya Games on January 15th.
While all focus was on the road, no one paid any heed to the cables lying beneath the soil which feeds Garo Hills with critical data.
The disruption of internet facility throughout Friday, during a crucial working day, has disrupted a majority of electronic financial transactions such as UPI payments by consumers across the five districts of Garo Hills where Bsnl operstes its services.
Till the filing of this report past 1 O’clock Friday afternoon, Garo Hills continued to languish without internet facility by the largest state run internet service provider BSNL.
