Mobile Internet services restored in Shillong, other regions

Mobile Internet services were restored today in Shillong and other areas in the Khasi-Jaintia Hill region, 12 days after fake information on social media led to clashes in the city, forcing the government to impose a curfew.

Mobile Internet and messaging services were suspended on June 1 in seven districts of the Khasi-Jaintia Hill region, a day after a bus handyman was assaulted by a group of Sikh residents of the Punjabi Lane area.

Trouble escalated when rumours spread on social media that the handyman had succumbed to injuries, prompting a group of bus drivers to converge in the Punjabi Lane area. The police had to fire teargas shells to disperse them.

The messaging services were restored on June 7, but the mobile internet was re-activated today.

The home department, which reviewed the situation today, has lifted the ban on mobile Internet services, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner P S Dkhar told PTI.

Shillong falls in East Khasi district.

He said the decision was taken after the police informed the government that the situation had returned to normal.

The district administrator also said the night curfew in the 14 affected localities in the Lumdiengjri police station and Cantonment Beat House areas has been relaxed for two hours.

Night curfew in the affected areas would begin at 8 pm and end at 5 am the next day, Dkhar said.

Also, night curfew in the entire state capital is yet to be lifted. It would remain in force from 10 pm to 5 am the next day, he said.

Tension gripped the state capital for five days since May 31, following the clash between the Khasis and the Sikhs in the city's Punjabi Lane area.

The authorities have already ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Two persons have been arrested in connection with the initial incident at Punjabi Lane, according to the deputy commissioner.

The BJP-backed Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government has also formed a high-level committee to find a permanent solution to the issue of relocation of the Sweeper Colony, inhabited by the Punjabis.

Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who heads the committee, had yesterday said that the panel would recommend a feasible and permanent solution to the state government for the relocation of the colony, which has been a long pending issue.

Tourism in the scenic beauty hill city popularly known as "Scotland of the East" had taken a beating following clashes. Holidayers inflow has been increasing for the past few days following improvement in the situation.