The mobile internet services in the state of Assam were restored on Friday, 10 longs days after the anti-CAA (Citizen Amendment Act) protests turned violent at various occasions. According to a senior official of Airtel, the ban on the mobile internet services was lifted at around 9:00 am today, “As we did not received any fresh order to continue with the blackout, we have lifted the ban from 9 am”.
Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the state will be a home to everyone and the CAA is not threat to the state’s “language or land”, adding to this he said “Assam will remain for Assamese. When entire list is established after the tenure of the application is over, you will know that only a minimum number of people will get Citizenship”.
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The Gauhati High Court ordered that the internet services in Assam should be resumed by 5 pm on Thursday, however, the Assam government said that the mobile internet services will be resumed from Friday.
Broadband services were resumed earlier in Assam. Although, in the wake of protests and violence, the state tourism has suffered badly, Jayanta Malla Baruah, Chairman Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) said.
Latest News On Assam Anti-CAA Protest
Baruah said “December month is the main tourism season of the state tourism sector and all the stakeholders involved in the tourism sector are always eagerly looking forward to this season. The main tourism season of the state starts from the month of November and continues till the month of January. A total of 4,504 foreign tourists had visited Assam during the month of December last year and around 4.25 lakh domestic tourists had visited the state during the period”.
He added “If this type of situation arises then it has definitely affected our tourism sector and our revenue collection also. In 2018, the state tourism department had collected Rs 1,200-1,500 crore revenue and around 30 per cent collected alone in the month of December. In this month we had collected around Rs 300-400 crore”.
He asserted that if the situation does not go back to normal soon, it will impact next year’s tourism as well, because a message of Assam not being safe has already gone out. He added “We have given emergency phone numbers and tried to extend our supports to the people who faced problems. People were stranded at many places and they were rescued. We are trying our best that they do not face any difficulty, our government and stakeholders concerned are trying to allay all the fears of the visitors”.
Ratul Das, President, Greater Guwahati Tour Operators Drivers Association had said that the tour operators in Guwahati alone have incurred a loss of Rs. 5 crore in the past 7 days because of protests.He said “Around 2,000 small cars associated with the tour operators are in Guwahati alone and all vehicular movements were totally halted in the past seven days. More than 5,000-6,000 families are directly or indirectly involved with the tourism sector and they have faced lot of problems”.
