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Updated: Aug 17, 2019 18:13 IST

The government on Saturday restored services in 17 telephone exchanges in Kashmir and mobile internet in five districts on Jammu region and started the process to ease restrictions across Jammu and Kashmir 12 days after they were imposed, a top official of the Jammu and Kashmir administration said in Srinagar.

More than 50,000 landline phones became operational on Saturday after services in 17 exchanges of the Kashmir Valley were restored, according to PTI,

Most telephone exchanges in Kashmir Valley should be functional by Sunday evening and the process of relaxation and easing of restrictions is already in progress, government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said at a press conference.

“Seventeen telephone exchanges have already been made functional and most of the functionality of the most exchanges would be restored by Sunday evening.” Kansal said.

In Jammu division landlines services are functioning normally and mobile services have also been restored in five districts of the region, the spokespersons said.

The goverment had imposed a wide range of restrictions and enforced a communication blackout by suspending mobile internet services in the early hours of August 5 ahead of the Centre abrogating Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the restrictions in the Valley, Kansal said that relaxations have been provided for areas under in 35 police stations and that the administration was closely monitoring the whole situation. So far no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the Valley.

He said the plying of public transport normally on the roads is a good sign and there are reports that the same has been noticed in rural areas also.

“Schools beginning from primary level shall open from Monday, besides, all the Government offices will start functioning normally from the same day,” the spokesperson said.

School in Jammu had already opened earlier this week.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Swayam Prakash Pani said that the administration was calibrating the situation and was easing the restrictions in a gradual manner.

Pani who also attended the press conference said that so far restrictions have been lifted from areas under 35 police stations across North, South and Central Kashmir.

On Friday, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it would like to give the government some more time to restore normalcy in the region.