By IANS,
New Delhi : Clearance from a panel on radio frequency would be needed before installing a mobile phone tower at any site, the central government Wednesday told the Delhi High Court on a plea opposing towers atop homes.
A division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was hearing a public interest litigation seeking to bar installation of mobile phone towers on residential buildings following fears that radiation from these could cause cancer to those living within a 50-metre radius.
Filing an affidavit, the government said: “A copy of SACFA (standing advisory committee on radio frequency allocation) clearance for the said location issued by WPC (wireless planning and coordination) wing of the department of telecommunications” will also be needed for installation of towers, said the affidavit.
Before installation of towers, the telecom service providers were also required to obtain permission from the civic agencies for installations of mobile towers, it said.
The service providers would also need to take clearance from pollution control board, fire safety department, state environment and forest department, apart from getting a no objection certificate from the premises owner where the tower was proposed to be installed.
The government’s reply came on a petition of A.S. Jain who said that mobile phone towers should not be installed on residential buildings and at public places as recommended by a report of an inter-ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The bench had earlier asked the central government to file the panel’s reports and its suggestions on the issue.
Jain’s advocate Sugriv Dubey earlier submitted: “The radiation values and norms in other countries are more stringent and the exposure allowed is much lower but in our country, no specific rule and no norm for residential areas, schools, offices, hospitals and playgrounds have been laid down to stop radiation exposure.”