Mobile Towers Damaged by Commotion, Punjab Governor Summons Officials | India News

CHANDIGARH / NEW DELHI: Taking a serious look at the damage done to more than 1,600 Reliance Jio mobile towers during the farmers’ protest underway in recent days across the state, Punjab Governor Vice President Singh Badnore convened the Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan and DGP Dinkar. Gupta al Raj Bhawan to request a report on the matter.
Sources said the governor is concerned about the inability of law enforcement agencies to prevent such attacks on communication facilities that are vital to the economy and the mainstay of online education during the pandemic. Sources said that the BJP leadership has raised the issue with the governor.
Center has also been on the lookout for Reliance Jio’s goals, intrigued that Reliance’s assets should have been selected exclusively when not engaged in contract farming or food grains. The escalation of protests against the three farm laws has been marked by attacks on Jio’s mobile towers, threats, and forced closure of Reliance retail stores from 40% to 50% and gasoline sales, leading the company to close the blinds frequently to ensure worker safety at these outlets.
The attacks on the company have drawn the attention of central agencies which are also monitoring specific unions that appear to be exerting pressure. “The vandals’ approach at Reliance Jio is puzzling, considering that one service provider’s tower cannot be distinguished from another and that the parent company is not interested in corporate farming or agriculture,” said a senior government official. .

The agencies said local intelligence had alerted them to the possibility of the attacks. “We quickly raised the flag,” said another senior source. He said that Reliance Jio’s identification was being intensively monitored due to the company’s plan to implement an indigenous 5G network – a goal that the government has been waiting for due to its anxiety to avoid having to rely on China’s Huawei, which agencies do. consider a “security risk”.
In total, 2,000 towers were attacked, of which around 1,500 were damaged. Fiber optic cables were also attacked in some areas, disrupting services. In fact, it is more difficult to fix faults in these cables than to revive the towers. The sources said that several complaints had been filed that resulted, in some cases, in the FIR record.
Police in some districts have helped re-establish connectivity and now some villagers are also reaching out to help, which was not the case before.