Farmer groups cut power to 1,300 Jio towers

Farmers and support groups in Punjab have targeted Reliance Jio’s telecommunications towers in the state, disrupting the company’s mobile and Internet services and causing inconvenience to consumers.

According to industry sources, agitator groups cut power to around 1,300 Jio mobile towers in the state. There are around 9,000 Jio towers in Punjab. In some towers, these groups have cut the fiber.

As is known, the farmers of the state protest against the new agricultural laws and are convinced that the central government repeals them. In the process, they also called for a boycott of Reliance Industries and Adani Group products.

Industry sources said that if farmers want to boycott the product and do not buy Jio SIM or give up their existing Jio connections, that is fine as a sign of peaceful protest, but bringing destruction to company assets cannot be seen as a sign. of peace. protest.

In fact, the situation has turned critical and on December 25, according to a PTI report, Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also called on farmer groups not to disturb the general public with such actions. . He urged them to exercise the same restraint they had been showing for the past few months and said telecom connectivity had become even more critical for people amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Singh’s appeal came from a request from the Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA), a registered body of telecommunications infrastructure providers, asking the state government to persuade farmers not to resort to any activities. illegal in their fight against farm laws. .

Urging farmers not to take the law into their own hands by forcibly shutting down telecom connectivity or mistreating employees and technicians of telecom service providers, the prime minister said such actions are not in the interest of Punjab. and your future.

“The energetic disruption of telecommunications services due to the disruption of power supply to mobile towers by farmers in various parts of the state is not only negatively affecting the studies and future prospects of students, who are completely dependent online education, but also hampers the daily lives of people working from home due to the pandemic, ”Singh had said.

“Furthermore, the disruption of telecommunications services would also seriously affect the already troubled economy of the state,” said the prime minister.