In the wake of the increasing number of illegal cellphone towers and complaints by the citizens regarding the hazardous radiation that it emits, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is in the process of formulating a policy that would require the telecom companies in the city to seek permission from the BMC before erecting cellphone towers. The BMC would soon present its cellphone tower policy to the civic standing committee.
“The civic body would incorporate the revised guidelines issued by the DoT in the cellphone towers’ policy and send it to the civic standing
committee for approval,” said municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte during a meeting with Congress MP Priya Dutt along with the corporators from her party at civic headquarters.
The BMC has admitted that around 50 per cent cellphone towers across the city are illegal. According to the data available with the civic body, there are 3,705 cellphone towers in the city, of which 1,830 are illegal.
“Fifty per cent cellphone towers in the city are illegal. However, we have no power to act against the telecom towers for the excessive amount of radiation from them. The BMC was not the
authority where people could complain about excessive radiation from these towers,” said Mr Kunte.
The BMC had earlier carried out a drive to demolish the illegal cellphone towers. However, the telecom companies approached the court, which gave a stay. “If the court vacates the stay, we will once again carry out the demolition drive,” Mr Kunte added.
Taking note of growing citizen’s complaints about cellphone towers, the BMC has also decided to form a grievance redressal committee. It will deal with people’s complaints about hazards of these towers.