Principal Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Rohit Kansal in a press conference on Monday said that over 90% of the Kashmir valley was free of day time restrictions. He said that restrictions were eased at 92 police station areas out of the 111 police stations in Kashmir. Referring to phoneline restrictions he said that over 26,000 landline connections have been restored and are now functional in the Valley. He also said that the communication services have been improved and that there are 76 exchanges out of the total of 95 and the mobile phones are working in the regions of Jammu and Ladakh. "On the communications front, we have been briefing you from time to time. In our latest decision, we decided to open 29 more exchanges, making the number of functional exchanges 76 out of a total of 95," Kansal added.

152 'significant incidents' reported in three weeks

When asked about the stone-pelting incidents, the Principal Secretary said that at least 152 'significant incidents' have been witnessed in the last three weeks, out of which 125 were seen in Srinagar alone, though he pointed out that there had been a progressive decline in recent weeks. "There was a progressive increase in these incidents till August 16, and a progressive decrease since then," he said. "Incidents at Parimpora and stone-pelting at a local driver are unfortunate and have been taken due cognizance of by the security agencies" he added. 

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Over 4,000 schools now functional

Rohit Kansal said that the government offices are seeing good attendance from employees and are fully functional. Kansal also said that over 4,000 primary, middle and high schools are functioning in Kashmir. The schools are seeing a very good attendance."The attendance of teachers has improved and the attendance of children, though low in some places, is also improving," he added.

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Hospitals running normally says J&K Principal Secretary

Rohit Kansal also said that public transport is returning to roads and interstate connectivity is available."Over 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of fruit have been sent to various sale points outside the state," he said. Giving details about the situation of hospitals in the Kashmir valley, the Principal Secretary said that all medical facilities and hospitals were running normally and that over 200 major surgeries were conducted since the lockdown. He said that over 20,000 IPD patients and 2.5 lakh OPDs were registered in hospitals across the state.

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The restrictions on Jammu & Kashmir were imposed against the backdrop of abrogation of Article 370 which gave the state special status and put it outside the ambit of the Indian Constitution.  The state was also split into two union territories - J&K and Ladakh. 

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(With PTI inputs)