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3-day ban on mobile net services irks businessmen [Vadodara] [Times of India](Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) VADODARA: In an extreme measure to control rumours in the city in the wake of riots on Thursday and Friday, the city police ordered mobile service providers to discontinue mobile internet services for three days beginning Saturday morning. The decision came as a surprise to most citizens and to many it meant inconvenience in business. Cellular data services, including 2G and 3G internet services barring landline broadband, group SMS as well as MMS services were ordered shut till Tuesday morning. No formal announcement was made regarding this by the city police or the internet service providers. The city police was contemplating a similar decision on Ganpati immersion day, but did not do so eventually. Vadodara police commissioner E Radhakrishana said the decision had become necessary as there was a lot of rumour mongering on Friday on the messaging services. "This was posing a lot of problems and we took the decision of getting the services stopped for three days," he said. Radhakrishana added that the decision would be reviewed keeping in mind the situation in the city. "If the situation remains peaceful, we may allow the services to continue at an earlier stage," he said. But the decision has not gone down well with people whose businesses and daily interactions were affected adversely due to disruption of mobile internet services. "Shutting down internet is meaningless as miscreants can cause problems even through phone calls. This should not have been done without a warning," said Malcolm D'souza, a social media marketing executive. "With online business it is very difficult to stay without internet for a moment also. Mobile internet going down is crippling and causes panic. It puts one in a situation of constant fear of not being able to deliver a critical message or email on time," said Saumil Joshi, founder of a page dedicated to Vadodara on a social media website. While people addicted to mobile messaging applications took to social media and micro-blogging websites to voice their frustrations, some even took the internet blockade in their stride. "Since the broadband connections were active, work routine is not affected. However, I am happy that it has saved a lot of time and increased productivity since mobile texting applications were down too," said Punit Jain, another entrepreneur. (c) 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited |