The mobile and dongle internet services resumed in Chandigarh on Sunday evening, much to the relief of city residents. However, the ban put in place on August 24 for 72 hours and subsequently extended till August 29 remains in Punjab and Haryana. In Chandigarh’s periphery, some people reported that internet service resumed, but it was still partial.

On August 24, the decision to suspend mobile internet services  taken at a coordination committee meeting of Haryana, Punjab and Union Territory of Chandigarh, held under the chairmanship of Punjab governor and UT administrator, VP Singh Badnore.

As per the decision only voice calls were allowed, while all other services of internet and SMS were suspended.

As per a telecom official the mobile internet services have resumed in Chandigarh. So now the residents of Chandigarh can use mobile internet services. A senior official said, “But once a person enters Mohali and Panchkula, the same would not work as the services in Punjab and Haryana are still suspended.”

Cyber cafes cash in on ban

A cyber cafe owner in Sector 20, Azad market, Prateek Singh, said, “I made money out of the net ban as people had no alternative but to use WiFi for their work.”

Similarly another cyber cafe in Sector 20 market opposite to Gaudiya Math temple, which remains closed on Sunday opened for the residents.

The owner Vishal Saini said, “We all are suffering and we know that people need internet. Thus we opened the cafe for the convenience and around 10 people came today to use internet.”

Similarly the cyber cafe at Panjab University also remained busy during the past three days, even when WiFi was available for the students at PU.

Besides, the WiFi enabled eateries in Chandigarh and Mohali including the cafe in Sector 16, Sector 35, sector 9 among others  seen attracting the crowd.

Divisional railways manager (DRM) Dinesh Kumar said, “Due to the security reasons, we had to get the WiFi blocked. Once the situation normalises, WiFi facility at the station will be resumed.