Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 30: Former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla today strongly resented weak defence of J&K Administration in the Apex Court over restoration of 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said at a time like this when there is a spread of a global pandemic and the nation has been locked down in order to contain the contagion, granting limited access to internet facilities is unreasonable. “Various public health practitioners, medical professionals have repeatedly expressed their concern about wasting precious time trying to download the latest studies, protocols, manuals and advisories on treatment and management of COVID-19. In some cases, doctors are not able to access these resources at all, due to the internet speed being too slow to download heavy files,” he said.
“Effective and speedy internet is an indispensable tool in the struggle against the COVID-19 epidemic,” said Bhalla, adding, “The right to internet has been recognized by the Government of India itself as an essential service. Restricted internet access is directly impacting the lives of the residents of Jammu & Kashmir.”
He urged the administration to evolve a robust mechanism to reach out to remaining stranded people of J&K, stranded in various parts of the country.”The humanitarian approach should form part of the strategy while implementing the vigorous implementation of preventive measures and rapid testing to combat Corona virus,” he said.
Former Minister also drew attention of the administration towards areas declared as red zones and said this cannot be an unending system. “Once the areas observe necessary quarantine period and adhere to all the obligatory protocols, the sealing should be ended if there are no COVID19 cases,” he added.
He demanded that all the residents of J&K who are stranded in Jammu and Samba districts should be brought back to their home in view of difficulties and hardships faced by them. It’s not possible for them to continue stay outside their homes as they are out of resources and their families are worried and distressed.
Meanwhile Former Minister on Thursday continued distributing ration and other necessary items among needy and poor families of Gandhi Nagar constituency at Digiana in Sanjay Nagar and Rani Tallab wards 45 and 46.
Prominent among those who accompanied Raman Bhalla include corporator Dewarka Choudhary, Aman Bawa, Jatin Vashisht, Vijay Singh Chib, Mandeep Singh Sonu, Surinder Singh Dutt and others.
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