No Internet Services Suspended In Noida, Greater Noida, Clarifies Top Official Amid CAA Protests

Noida District Magistrate on Friday clarified that internet services have been suspended in Noida and Greater Noida. “No suspension of the Internet in Noida, Greater Noida. Strict action will be taken if someone tries to spread violence,” District Magistrate Noida BN Singh said.

The clarification came amid reports that internet curb in several cities of Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow. The cities that are facing a complete internet shutdown include Lucknow, Bareilly, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Prayagraj, Sambhal, Meerut, Mau, and Kanpur.

This led to confusion with some users complaining on Twitter that they are not being able to use the internet in Noida.

Meanwhile, the internet has been suspended in several cities of Uttar Pradesh after Thursday's protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) turned violent in Lucknow and Sambhal and led to large scale destruction of public and private property.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avanish Awasthi said that the shutdown would continue till December 21 at midnight. All private telecom operators have also shut down their service after the government order.

This has been done in view of protests planned after Friday prayers in several cities.

According to a senior police official, it was found late on Thursday night that the violent protests on Thursday were being live-streamed on social media which aggravated the situation.

"Apart from the internet, SMS and messenger services have also been blocked. We are trying to inform our customers about this," said a private telecom manager in Lucknow.

The shutdown is mainly going to impact the news industry, which is largely dependent on the internet for news transmission.

With PTI Inputs