New Delhi: The Centre has directed all telecom service providers to immediately activate intra-circle roaming (ICR) in Jammu and Kashmir till September 2, following a major disruption of mobile networks due to incessant rainfall and landslides.
The order, issued to Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea, comes amid widespread communication breakdown across J&K, where continuous heavy rain for the fourth day has triggered flood-like conditions in the Jammu region.
“In view of the ongoing situation caused by heavy rainfall and multiple landslides, and under Clause 29.6 of the unified licence and SOP 2020 for disaster response, all telecom operators are directed to activate ICR in the Union Territory with immediate effect, until 23:59 hours of September 2 or until further notice,” the Department of Telecommunications’ disaster management unit said.
The order stressed that the facility must be extended to all in-roamers in J&K and treated as a top priority.
Telecom outages were reported after heavy rains damaged optical fibre cables at several locations, hampering emergency response and leaving residents disconnected. Operators said their technical teams are working to restore full services at the earliest.
