Promised SMS, Net elude Valley hospitals

The Jammu and Kashmir government’s “New Year gift” of restoring the short messaging service to mobile phones and Internet connections to hospitals has turned out to be a premature April Fool’s prank.

The government had on Tuesday announced the restoration of SMS to all post-paid-mobiles and of broadband Internet to hospitals across the Valley by midnight, officials touting it as a New Year’s gift to the people.

But complaints poured in from early Wednesday morning after subscribers, except those with BSNL connections, found that they could not send or receive text messages. Most hospitals were without Internet services. Late in the evening, the situation remained unchanged.