A recent survey carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has concluded that out of 4,776 mobile towers in Mumbai, as many as 3,631 have been erected without the municipality’s permission. The BMC has now termed all these towers as illegal.
According to the survey published earlier this month, the highest number of “illegal” mobile towers are in Borivali (342). Malabar Hill and Bandra, with 333 and 300 illegal mobile towers respectively, are second and third in the list.
However, the BMC cannot take any action against these towers even though they have been deemed illegal by the civic body. “The Bombay high court has granted a stay on removal of any of these towers after telecom companies filed a writ petition against the BMC’s notice to these towers. The case is still pending in the high court. Without having the stay vacated, it will not be possible to take any action against these illegal towers,” said a BMC official.
The BMC had also sent a draft policy on mobile towers for the approval of state urban development department about a year ago. As per the policy, a minimum distance of 36 metres should be maintained while installing mobile phone towers on educational institutions and hospitals. The policy also puts a cap on maximum of two towers a building. “There was no response from the UD department for a year. Now, with the new DoT
guidelines, we even might have to amend the draft policy,” the BMC official said.