Power supply to towers that relay telecom signals was snapped and cables cut in several parts of the state as farmers vented their anger on the infrastructure owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s firm Jio as they saw him along with infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani as major beneficiaries of the new laws.
“Till yesterday, 1,411 towers were damaged and today the count has gone well past 1,500,” a source with knowledge of the matter said.
In Jalandhar, some bundles of Jio’s fibre cable were also burnt.
Videos of Jio employees being threatened and made to flee have gone viral.
The attacks have impacted telecom services and operators are struggling to maintain services in absence of action by law enforcement agencies, the source said.
The Punjab chief minister had on Friday appealed to protesting farmers to not cause inconvenience to the general public with such actions and continue to exercise the same restraint as they had shown over the past several months of their agitation.
