"Mobile phone and internet services are not functional in Kashmir since August 5 but still I have been billed Rs 779 by Airtel. I fail to understand what are we being charged for," Obaid Nabi, a resident of Safakadal, said. Mohammad Umar, who has a BSNL mobile connection, said his average monthly mobile bill used to be around Rs 380 but he was surprised to find an inflated bill for the shutdown period. "I have been billed Rs 470 for the last month. The surprising aspect is that the phone services are not working for the past one and a half months," Umar said.

Several subscribers said they were hoping that charges for the period of communication shutdown will be waived as it was done in the aftermath of 2016 agitation and 2014 floods in Kashmir. Bharti Airtel did not respond to an email query sent on the issue, while repeated calls and text messages to BSNL CEO went unanswered. Queries were also sent to Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, but no response was received. -- PTI