Muharram: Vadodara police ban SMS

As Muharram processions were taken out on Sunday, short message service (SMS) remained down in the city following orders from city police. This is for the second time in less than two months that thousands of mobile users faced a blanket ban on text services.

As many as 179 big and hundreds of small committees took out tazias in the city.

Police commissioner Satish Sharma said he had ordered a ban on group SMSes to prevent spread of rumours.

"We just wanted to ban group SMSes. However, telecom companies said it was not possible to ban only group SMSes, so the normal service also remained down," Sharma told The Indian Express.

The last time city mobile phone users faced such a blanket ban on SMSes was on September 29, the day of Ganesh immersion.

"We have deployed around 1,000 policemen and home gaurds to ensure smooth passage of processions. Also, 18 IP cameras have been installed," Sharma said.

He said the city police had deployed six companies of paramilitary forces on election duty and called four additional CRPF companies for the day.

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