Srinagar: Internet blockade in Kashmir for the past three months has badly impacted the work of students, researchers and administration at the universities in the region.
The government has repeatedly ignored pleas from university administrations to restore internet at the institutes wholly or partly, Kashmir Reader has learnt.
At the University of Kashmir, the “dead” data centre is costing students and researchers dearly besides affecting the pace of several research projects, officials wishing anonymity said.
The university’s out of order website has left students high and dry as they have not been unable to check their results days after declaration.
Since the lockdown in Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, the varsity has declared results of several examinations including B.Ed 3rd and 4th semesters, Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT), B A LLB 7th semester and BE 5th and 6th semesters.
However, several students told Kashmir Reader that due to the defunct website, they came to know about the results days later while many were still clueless.
The university has not even been able to even check official mails, while several students eligible for various Government of India scholarships were deprived from the benefits as they could not apply online.
“Even if some of them managed to fill in the application forms from or outside the valley, the university could not verify their applications with the host institutions as there is no internet here,” an official said.
Another official said that the internet blackout has affected research work at the varsity, right from the online e-tendering process to submission of online utilisation certificates to the funding agencies.
“Even the review of literature and submission of basic lab research has also been delayed,” he added.
Well placed sources said that repeated communications from Vice Chancellor’s office to state officials pleading restoration of internet facility at the varsity went unheeded for last two months, “even after we had offered to give an undertaking there would be proper use of the internet”.
“We wrote to the then governor, advisors, the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and even IGP, but to no avail. Our undertaking was also endorsed by the Higher Education Department,” a source said.
He said the varsity administration had sought to at least make its data centre live as its website is not hosted outside the valley.
A similar undertaking was also given by the administration at Cluster University Srinagar to the government asking it to restore the internet facility, a top official at the varsity told Kashmir Reader. But the internet facility at the CUS is yet to be restored by the government resulting into inconvenience to the students, he added.
Similarly at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), the internet blockade was adversely affecting various facilities for the students, an official said.
An official at KU said that the internet blockade had rendered valuable online information including students’ academic credentials, results and other details inaccessible.

Irshad Khan