Mobile phone services shut in parts of Delhi amid CAA protests

A pan-India protest call has been given by the clutch of organisations against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The epicentre of the protests are Delhi and Mumbai.

The protest against the new citizenship law is heating up in national capital Delhi. As a precautionary measure, the government has asked mobile phone operators to suspend voice, data and internet services in some areas.

People protest against the citizenship law at Red Fort in New Delhi.(Biplov Bhuyan/HT Photo)

The order to suspend the services was issued on Wednesday. 

The users of Airtel were first to find this out after some of them were not able to use their mobile internet on Thursday. They complained to the company and got the following response: “We’re complying with instructions received from government authorities on suspending Voice, SMS and data in certain areas in Delhi. Once the suspension orders are lifted, our services will be fully up and running. We’re sorry about the inconvenience.”

“The affected areas are Walled City area of north and central districts, Mandi House, Seelampur, Jaffarbad and Mustafabad, Jamia Nagar and Shaeen Bagh, Bawana,” a top official of a telecom operator told Mint on the condition of anonymity. “We have received instructions from government authorities to suspend mobile services in these locations.”

HT has not seen a copy of the government order.

Vodafone too shut down its services in parts of the national capital. “We would like to inform you that there is a planned outage scheduled as per government directive. This will rectified as soon we receive the next directive from the authority. We appreciate your patience and cooperation for the same,” the company informed its customers on Twitter.  

The Delhi Police have put barricades with the city’s borders with Gurugram which led to massive jams of the roads. Seventeen metro stations are also closed.

A pan-India protest call has been given by the clutch of organisations against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The epicentre of the protests are Delhi and Mumbai.

The Delhi Police has clamped Section 144 in the area around Red Fort that bars gathering of four or more people.

Many protesters were detained by the Delhi Police near Red Fort when they tried to take out a march in defiance of the prohibitory orders imposed there to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Swarajya Abhiyan chief Yogendra Yadav was among those who were detained.

“I have just been detained from Lal Qila. About a thousand protesters already detained. Thousands on the way. Am told we are being taken to Bawana,” Yadav tweeted.

The Delhi Police has urged protesters to go to the designated place for their protest. “We are requesting the protesters to please got to the designated place for the protest. In the non-designated places, public face problems and many emergency services get affected,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

We urge people to not listen to any rumours. Section 144 has already been imposed in the area. Please cooperate with the Delhi Police, he added.

Two protests are scheduled in the national capital, one by students and activists and the other by left parties. The two marches are to meet at Shaheen Park near ITO.