VIJAYAWADA: The sudden suspension of internet services in Amalapuram of Konaseema district following violence that rocked the peaceful town, has left many software engineers working from home to relocate themselves to nearby places like Kakinada, Yanam or Samalkot temporarily.
“We were caught unawares with the suspension of internet services. Our company asked us to relocate to nearby town after allowing us to abstain from work for a day,’’ Thota Rammohan, a software engineer of a Bengaluru-based company, told TNIE. Internet services in Amalapuram were suspended on Tuesday following large scale arson over renaming Konaseema district after BR Ambedkar.
Techies like Rammohan are not sure when the internet services will be restored. “I shifted to a hotel in Kakinada. I spent more than Rs 2,000 per day on room rent and food, which is quite expensive,’’ he said. His cousin Thota Arun Kumar, who also works for a Bengaluru-based firm, moved to his sister’s house in Samalkot. Later, Rammohan also shifted to Samalkot.
“I have seen internet services suspended for weeks or even months together in trouble-hit places like Jammu and Kashmir, but never thought that it would happen in otherwise peaceful Konaseema region. We never witnessed violent incidents before. We are not sure as to how many days this situation continues,’’ he lamented.
Rammohan has been working from home since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. “My brother’s children are calling me daily and asking me when I will come back to Amalapuram,’’ he said.
Prasad, an elite coach from South Mumbai Chess Academy Private Limited, based in Mumbai, who takes online chess classes to students from India and abroad, had to shift to his friend’s house in Kakinada, from his hometown Mukteswaram, 10 km away from Amalapuram.
“I do not have specific timings as students from various countries prefer different timings. I have to be online all the day. When internet services stopped all of a sudden after violence in Amalapuram, I found myself in a difficult situation,’’ Prasad told TNIE.
Prasad called up all the students from the State on his own and explained his problem and asked the academy to inform the same to foreign students. The techies who shifted to nearby places from Konaseema are not sure when internet services will be restored in their hometowns.