Riyaz Bhat
SRINAGAR
Last weekend, an old city family woke up to midnight tremors. As they rushed outside fearing that their house might collapse under the impact of what appeared as a massive quake, they were stunned to learn that tremors had no signature Hindukush epicentre—but their doorstep, where a private telecom company had arrived to drill for installing 4G network.
Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) undertaken during night in Kawdara to put in underground cable for 4G network ended up causing a partial damage to a house of Ghulam Mohiudin Lone.
“When we came out, we were shocked to see the base of our house partially damaged,” Lone said. “We were not given any notice before installing and laying the 4G cables.”
Lone’s shrieking family also created a night time stir in the area, as many in their neighbourhood turned up at their doorsteps to access the situation.
While castigating the private telecom company Reliance for the “brash operation”, Lone said the act almost gave heart attack to his family.
Meanwhile, Saahil Ahmad, the Reliance official in-charge of the work in Kawdara, while playing down the matter said the claim wasn’t totally true.
“The old built house had some damages,” the official said. “We will provide the compensation for the damage.”
