2024-07-29 20:15:33
State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak said that during the quota reform movement, the workers were forced to shutdown three data centers in Mohakhali in the capital under frightening conditions.
He said these things in a briefing at the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on Sunday (July 28).
He said, there are three data centers in Mohakhali along with Khawaja Tower. One of them (on the ground floor of the relief rehabilitation center) was set on fire by terrorists. A scary situation is created all around. The employees of two other data centers in the area were also forced to shutdown due to panic.
The state minister said, on July 17 and 18, due to security reasons, we stopped internet services on a limited scale in some areas. But on July 18, the rampage was carried out from 3 pm to 9 pm. At that time, a data center on the ground floor of the relief and rehabilitation center in Mohakhali was completely burnt down. Data and technical analysis shows that several identified terrorists carry out planned attacks there. Those who have already been arrested and the law enforcement agencies have already collected information from them.
He said the CCTV footage showed that a terrorist group burnt the data center there in a planned manner. The three data centers in that area, the source of internet and power i.e. electricity cables were also burnt. Then those who were working in those data centers risking their lives, were forced to shutdown the data centers under scary conditions.
Claiming that cables have been torched and cut across the country, Palak said hundreds of kilometers of fiber cables across the country; Those that were above the ground were burnt and cut down by the terrorists. Besides the fiber optical cable that was brought to Dhaka via Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong; They were pulled over due to road and bridge repairs, they were also burnt. Two days after the incident, we can identify where such cable disconnections have occurred. It was repaired under the supervision of the army.
Kuakata’s submarine cable was active, he said, only Kuakata’s submarine cable was active. With that, as quickly as possible, we have provided internet to very important areas including airports, diplomatic quarters, commercial areas, media, hospitals, banks. But yes, even for three days our internet connection with the rest of the world was completely disconnected.
Earlier, from 9 am to 11 am, State Minister Junaid Ahmed Palak held a meeting with the officials of four mobile operator companies of the country, four mobile financial services (MFS), Association of Mobile Telephone Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB).
Secretary of ICT Department was present in the meeting among others. Samsul Arefin and BTRC Chairman Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed along with the officials of the regulatory body.