Bihari students shift to UP areas for studies as internet services are banned

Following a ban on internet services in Bihar, students preparing for competitive examinations, many of them from Buxar, have shifted to neighbouring Ballia and Ghazipur districts in Uttar Pradesh. Thousands of them have been congregating at the multiple river fronts of Ganga river at the UP-Bihar border, working on their laptops and mobiles by switching to mobile networks from UP. These students are arriving in shared or personal cars, staying for two to three hours before heading back home.

Internet services in 12 Bihar districts – Kaimur, Bhojpur, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Buxar, Nawada, West Champaran, Samastipur, Lakhisarai, Begusarai, Vaishali and Saran districts – have been suspended till June 21 (today).

This was done after intelligence inputs suggested that social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were being used by anti-social groups to instigate defence aspirants against the Agnipath scheme and mobilise them to carry out arson.

Meanwhile, Danapur police on Monday registered an FIR against Guru Rehman, who runs a chain of coaching institutes – Adamya Aditi Gurukul – for allegedly instigating students to indulge in arson and violence during the anti-Agnipath agitation. Owners of six other coaching institutes have also been booked for arson at Taregna railway station,10 km from Patna.