Bengaluru: Families of 257 tourists from the state, including 12 from the IT capital, stranded in flood-hit J&K grew more anxious on Monday as all telecommunication links snapped in the Valley, cutting it off from the rest of the country. Mr Venkat Narayan, former editor of a Kannada daily, whose relatives are marooned on the third floor of the Gulshan Palace Hotel in Jawaharnagar, Srinagar, said he last spoke to them Saturday evening. “After that there has been no communication,” he said.
“The Kashmir Valley is cut off from the rest of the country as floods have damaged BSNL and other telecom infrastructure”, confirmed R.N. Sudhakar Chief General Manager Telecom, adding that satellite experts from Hyderabad and Bengaluru were rushing to the Valley to restore services. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said that he had directed Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee to dispatch IAS officers by Tuesday to help bring home the stranded.
