Keeping in view the security concerns arising out of mass exodus of northeast people from Bangalore, Pune, Hyderaband, Chennai, Mysore, the government has imposed a ban on bulk SMSes and MMSes for 15 days.

The home ministry is believed to have directed that social media and blogs which are frequently used for spreading rumours be checked.  

The ban will prevent cellphone from sending text messages to more than five people at a time. The restriction has been imposed keeping in mind the security scenario, said a notice issued by the security wing of the telecoms department (DoT).

But the data based messaging services like WhatsApp and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) have been kept out of the restriction. The alerts from services, such as banks, airlines, for online transactions and railway bookings would also be exempted from the ban.

Recently, anti-social elements have used text messages to spread hatred which resulted in the death of 75 people in ethnic violence in Assam. The text messages in the past couple of days spread panic among the northeast people in these cities especially Bangalore which has resulted in mass exodus. The rumour mongers are targeting western and south Indian states.

Mobile phone companies confirmed they had received the government directive and complied with it.