SRI NAGAR: The 90-day-long shutdown following the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K has rendered between 22,000 and 25,000 IT professional in the Valley jobless. IT companies are incurring heavy losses.
Around 32 IT companies, which have their units in the Industrial Estates Rangreth on the outskirts of Srinagar, now bear a deserted look. With the internet blocked in the Valley since August 5, all these units have been shut.
Sheikh Parvez, CEO Srinagar Technology Consultants (STC) Private Limited said electricity and internet as “oxygen” for the IT sector. “Since August 5, the government has denied this oxygen (internet) to us. How can IT companies work?” he asked.
Parvez said heads of IT companies in Valley had given a written undertaking to authorities that if internet services were restored to them they won’t allow its misuse. “But unfortunately our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.”
According to Parvez, the IT sector was not hit in 2016 unrest. “The internet lease lines were working during the six-month-long unrest in 2016 following the killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani,” he said.
Young entrepreneur Hakim Tajamul, who returned to the Valley from Dubai to set up his venture, said all his hard work has been undone. “We are now back to square one and have to restart afresh,” he said.
Parvez, who started his company in 2005 with only two people, before August 5 provided jobs to 200 people. He said due to the internet blockade he has been forced to lay-off his staff.