Chandigarh: While the disruption of Reliance Jio telecom towers continued by supporters of the farmers’ agitation Wednesday, the state police is yet to take action against those responsible.
Instead, the Captain Amarinder Singh-led government has directed its efforts to restore the network services that were disrupted by these incidents, in a likely attempt to not alienate farmer leaders in any way.
As a result, Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore has also summoned the Chief Minister and the Director General of Police on the issue.
In a press statement issued Wednesday evening, Badnore expressed concern over the damage to the towers, which he said were vital for day-to-day affairs of business, educational institutions and the government.
The governor felt that there has been failure of the law enforcement agencies in preventing such damages.
For the past few days, supporters of the farmers agitating against the three farm laws have been vandalising Jio towers to protest the laws that they believe will benefit corporates like Reliance.
According to government sources, there has been a decline in these incidents since Monday. However, in the past 24 hours, as many as 58 incidents of Jio towers being vandalised were reported.
These incidents have continued despite an appeal by farmer leaders Monday, asking supporters not to indulge in vandalism of the company’s infrastructure. They, however, reiterated that farmers could be supported by giving up Jio connections.
Also read: Govt agrees to 2 of farmers’ 4 demands after round 6 of talks, but won’t repeal farm laws
Agitators cut cable, carry off generators
Farmers have been protesting against the three farms laws, passed by the central government in September, at the Delhi border for over a month now. They believe the laws will alienate them from their land and will benefit corporates like Reliance.
As a mark of protest, those supporting the agitating farmers had started vandalising the telecom towers of Jio across the state. Almost 1,500 towers installed at various sites were vandalised.
In most cases, the agitators cut the cables to these towers. However, in some cases the generator sets were picked up and transported to other places in villages.
Four persons were detained Tuesday for transporting the generator of a tower in a village in Moga. But they were let off by the police with a warning.
“We are helping the company officials to restore the services to the towers. No FIR has been lodged at any place till now,” Ajay Pandey, Deputy Inspector General, Law and Order, Punjab, told The Print.
According to sources, by Tuesday evening, the functioning of around 1,045 towers out of the 1,400 damaged towers (74.6 per cent) had been restored.
There are 21,306 telecom towers in Punjab, and Jio telecom towers constitute a little less than half of them.
Also read: The problem Rahul Gandhi has created for Amarinder Singh in Punjab by backing farmer protests
Reliance writes to Punjab CM, DGP
Reliance has also written to the Punjab Chief Minister and Punjab Director General of Police about the incidents.
In the letter dated Wednesday, the company has sought intervention into “incidents of sabotage and vandalism at Jio Network sites” in the state by unknown persons. The letter also alleged that the police were not taking action or filing FIRs against vandalism.
A similar letter was sent by the corporation to the Punjab DGP on 23 December.
On Monday, the chief minister had issued a stern warning against the vandalisation of mobile towers and disruption of telecom services in the state, and directed the police to take strict action against all those resorting to such unlawful activities.
The Chief Minister had asserted that he will not let Punjab be plunged into anarchy at any cost and nobody can be allowed to take law into their hands.
He pointed out that his government had not objected to, or stopped, peaceful protests in the state against the farm laws, but said that damage to property and inconvenience to citizens could not be endured.
Also read: Why the farmers’ protest is led by Sikhs of Punjab
Crony Reliance