Govt plans helpline on mobile tower radiation

The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is planning to set up a national helpline to enable citizens to lodge complaints on any health hazards they experienced due to the radiation emitted by mobile phone towers, while they are yet to establish any conclusive evidence on threats posed by these radiations.

The first such helpline was launched in Mumbai last year, but only within the city limits. The proposed national helpline will allow citizens from any part of the country to lodge their complaints, sources in the DoT told Deccan Herald.

Based on the complaint, the Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cell of the DoT will check radiation levels of these towers and take necessary action.

Though the DoT is inspecting telecom towers to check whether radiation emitted is within the limits approved by the government, the process is moving at a snail’s pace due to shortage of skilled employees.

Of the 5 lakh towers, the organisation is planning to verify at least 70,000 in a year. However, the department has verified just 6,400 towers in the first two months of 2013 against a target of 12,000 towers. To address the issue, the DoT is also proposing to augment the staff, sources said.