The BJP-backed Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government has effected over 603 hours of mobile internet shutdown in the state since coming to power in 2018, the chief of a newly launched regional political party claimed.

Avner Pariat, convener and head of New Dawn, said the state has faced withdrawal of internet services five times since the current dispensation took charge. The longest was in June 2018 — 312 hours — following the clashes that broke out between two groups in Iewduh.