JAMMU: J&K authorities on Wednesday partially restored SMS in Kashmir Valley only for state-run BSNL users while leaving subscribers of private telcos in the lurch. Broadband internet facilities to hospitals and schools, however, were not made available as announced by the government on Tuesday.

Holding a news conference here on Tuesday, government spokesman and principal secretary Rohit Kansal had said that SMS of all cellular service providers and internet services at all government hospitals and schools would be restored from December 31-January 1 midnight.

Non-BSNL users said that their SMS still remained suspended in the Valley. “We are trying to send messages to our friends and relatives to greet them on New Year, but our attempts are failing as SMS still remains suspended,” said a Vodafone user.

“We are not even getting OTP messages from banks to know about the details of our respective accounts,” said Ghulam Hassan Dar, a businessman. He added that the announcement by the government had brought cheer among the trading community, but all in vain.

An official from Jio, wishing not to be named, informed that they had not received any directions from the government regarding restoration of SMS in Kashmir so far. “Users will avail the services only after the government gives nod to cellular companies in this regard,” he added.

SMS was suspended by the government on August 5, when the Centre abrogated the special status of J&K and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories — J&K and Ladakh .

