BHUBANESWAR: The state government has asked the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to finalize special regulations for installation of telecom towers in Bhubaneswar and other urban areas in the state within 15 days.
State housing and urban development (H&UD) secretary Injeti Srinivas, while reviewing the progress of the proposed regulation on February 28, has asked the BDA to expedite the finalization so that it can be sent to the H&UD for vetting and subsequent approval.
Almost 15 years after the Karnataka Urban Development Department issued a circular to the municipal bodies in the State to frame rules for installing private telecom towers on residential and commercial buildings, the Karnataka Directorate of Municipal Corporations (KDMC) has now suddenly woken up to frame the rules, including on radiation levels emanated from a tower.
The directorate is in the process of framing the draft rules, which will be sent to the Additional Chief Secretary for approval. The State government initiated the process of framing the draft rules following the Centre’s direction to the Urban Development Department.
NEW DELHI: Fear of radiation is leading to mobile towers being shut in the richest localities of central Delhi, a trend that's likely to affect connectivity in the heart of Lutyens Delhi.
On Monday, a mobile tower at Aurangzeb Road was dismantled and operations of two towers at Amrita Shergill Marg were halted, claim cellular operators. With two towers at Tata Sadan to be switched off on February 28, cellular operators say, connectivity is going to be severely affected in this exclusive enclave.
The Directorate of Municipal Administration’s (DMA) latest regulations on mobile phone towers have not gone down well with some quarters, which feel that the department should have come out with more stringent rules to check the mushrooming of such towers.
The DMA, in its order, has observed that telecom towers are a threat to the environment, human beings, birds and animals and, therefore it was issuing a set of regulations.
The municipal administration directorate has told district deputy commissioners to shift mobile phone towers in cases where they have been installed in violation of prescribed guidelines.
Municipal Administration Commissioner P Ravi Kumar has directed all deputy commissioners to conduct a survey of mobile towers coming under their jurisdiction and shift such towers which are in violation of the guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunication.
In a recent letter to the Deputy Commissioners, copies of which were released to the media on Monday, Ravi Kumar has stated that the move is to protect human beings, birds and animals from the hazards of mobile tower radiations.
Even as doctors at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra, complained that deactivation of cellphone towers at the hospital was causing connectivity problems owing to BMC's policy of not allowing them above hos
Court to hear plea against Raj HC order banning towers from public-use buildings
Beginning today, the country’s highest court will hear petitions filed by telecom-industry lobbies challenging a recent Rajasthan High Court order that directed telecom companies to remove cellphone towers from schools, hospitals, jails and heritage buildings in the state amid claims that tower radiation was harmful. Officials of two leading industry associations, representing mobile operators and telecom tower companies, feel the Supreme Court’s verdict in the case could set a precedent on where all towers can be located and how they operate.
Cellphone towers are facing maximum opposition in Mumbai and Delhi, with approximately 120 and 110 leases cancelled or not renewed.
"The number of cellphone towers whose lease agreements have not been renewed or cancelled is rising," said Rajan Mathews, director-general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). There have been five cancellations/non-renewals in West Bengal and 8-10 in Kerala.
