As the situation fails to improve in Kashmir in the wake of revocation of the Article 370 on August 5, the Courier services in the Valley have borne the brunt as the services have got badly affected due the communication gag and internet suspension. With connectivity standing suspended for about a month now, the services of the leading courier companies continues to remain hampered throughout the region, however the restoration of some landlines could not provide any sort of succor to the Courier service operators in Kashmir.The present advanced courier services are highly dependent on the mobile internet services because of various reasons like “location tracking, consignment valuation, digital authorized signatories, etc. ”A Courier service operator told Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the communication gag completes a month so as the internet blockade.Sandeep Singh, a courier agent told KNO that in the aftermath of abrogation of Article 370 which led to restrictions and shutdowns due to which they are suffering huge losses. “As the situation in the valley continues to remain on the edge, we have suspended our business operations in the valley. If the present uncertainty continues and communication gag remains on, we may shut our offices in Kashmir.”Singh said that he handles a team of 15 members presently at his office and five are working in the field.
“Almost a month of restrictions have passed when I met my team and during this period he could not communicate to them due to the ongoing communication gag. Most of my workers hails from the downtown Srinagar while few are from the city outskirts,” he told KNO.While talking to KNO, Singh revealed that, “Yesterday I received a company notice asking me to terminate the services of about half of my team. The remaining ones were asked to work on fifty percent salary deduction on their basic salaries.” Another courier agent of Blue Dart Courier Service, Tawfeeq Mir told KNO, that due to the ongoing uncertainty he had failed to deliver the received shipment of August 2, which is still pending at his office.“Prior to the announcement of the abrogation of Article 370 followed by the restrictions and clampdown, we received a huge consignment due to the peak season of festival here in the valley and during the process of initiating the delivery the state administration imposed curbs and restriction all over the state due to which we could not deliver the received consignment at the proper time,” Mir said.He told KNO that they are presently monitoring the ground situation and if it remains the same they will return back all the undelivered shipments to our Delhi office and shut down our business operation’s from the valley.(KNO)