CAA stir: All forms of net suspended in Ghaziabad till 10pm today

GHAZIABAD: Anticipating a repeat of the violent protests that took place in the city last Friday against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the district administration has again announced an internet shutdown for 24 hours from 10pm on Thursday.
Unlike last week, when only broadband and mobile internet services were suspended, this time leased and loop lines used by private and public establishments, including banks, post offices and government offices, will also be shut down.
District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said there would be a review of the order at 3pm once Friday prayers are over. If the situation is found to be under control, the curbs could be lifted before the specified time.
He said non-compliance would attract legal action under IPC Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). The 36-hour internet suspension last week — between 10pm on December 19 and 10am on December 21 — had paralysed Ghaziabad.
Apart from Ghaziabad, internet curfew has also been imposed in Lucknow, Saharanpur, Agra, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Bijnor, Firozabad, Sambhal, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Shamli and Aligarh districts in west UP, and Kanpur and Sitapur in the central region. For Muzaffarnagar, Friday will be the eighth straight day of the blackout. Internet services were blocked in 21 districts of UP last Friday.
On the reason for the complete shutdown, DM Pandey said that last week, internet was found to be working in some places as telecom companies faced difficulty in stopping services. “This has been done to ensure that the order is fully complied with,” he added.
However, Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate B N Singh told TOI there was no directive for an internet shutdown. “We live in a progressive society. There is no law-and-order situation here for which such drastic measures are needed,” he said.
Meanwhile, police have increased security across Ghaziabad district, especially in 50-odd areas identified as sensitive, after local intelligence inputs suggested that anti-CAA protests could take place on Friday. One company of PAC and four companies of the Rapid Action Force will also patrol the areas.
Videographers have been roped in as well to record any protests that may take place. On Thursday, DM Pandey and SSP Sudhir Kumar Singh visited spoke to residents of several areas. Police distributed pamphlets explaining CAA in several localities.