As J&K Students Are Cut Off From Home For Over A Month, They Struggle To Make Ends Meet scroll.in

Rents have not been paid, daily food budgets have shrunk and books needed for coursework cannot be bought. Eighteen-year-old Muqadas Hussain Kalas has many bills to pay. The Delhi University student is from Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. “I have not paid my rent for this month,” he said. “My landlord was kind at first but now he does not understand my situation.”

His situation was precipitated by the communications blackout that accompanied the Centre’s announcement on August 5 that it was revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Ostensibly to prevent protests against the decision, a communications blackout was imposed in the region.

Over a month after its announcement, the government claims to have restored landlines across the region. Through mobile and internet connectivity is still suspended in the Kashmir Valley, the government says that mobile phone services have been restored across Jammu.

However, students in Delhi say they are still struggling to speak to their families. Kalas says phone calls with his family in Poonch, a border district in Jammu division, last for only a few seconds. “The network was bad,” he said. “My father said that he would try to send me some money as soon as things become fine. And then the call got cut.”