Committee to keep tabs on mobile phone towers

A committee comprising experts from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the State government will soon be formed to keep tabs on installation of new mobile phone towers at the State and district levels.

Once the committee is formed, the members will visit the places where mobile towers are being installed to check their radiation levels.

“We are waiting for the green signal from the government. However, there is no need to panic as the radiation levels in the State have come down by 10 times in the last few months,” said G Satyanarayan Reddy, Deputy Director General, DoT (Karnataka Rural), on the sidelines of a function organised by Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on Tuesday.

Reddy said there are around 32,000 mobile phone towers in Karnataka Rural and 18,000 towers in the City.

Owners tempted

S Ejaz Ahmed Sait, Chairman of the Civic Affairs Committee, FKCCI, said: “The building owners in many cases, tempted by the service providers, have rented the space on top of their buildings for installing transmission towers. These transmission towers are radiating more than the permitted levels and there seems to be an urgent need to monitor and control the existing towers or shift the same.”

Dr Sibichen K Mathew, Advisor, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Regional Office, said TRAI can only frame the regulations as the radiation issue comes under the purview of the telecom authorities.