Almost 50% of mobile phone towers in Mumbai are illegal

Hindustan Times: Mumbai, July 27, 2012 Of the 3,705 mobile phone towers across the city that can jeopardise your health and life, 1,830 — that’s roughly half of them — are illegal, says the civic body. But the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which discovered this fact last June when it conducted a survey of mobile phone towers, has done nothing for the past 13 months to remove the illegal ones.

So far, officials have taken action against only 140 illegal towers.

As reported in HT’s July 15 edition, it’s common for people living close to mobile towers to experience the side-effects of radiation, such as headaches, joint pains, disturbed vision, itchiness, anxiety, lack of concentration, sleep disturbances and fatigue, among other symptoms; cancer happens in extreme cases.

Civic officials said they cannot do anything against the illegal towers as a writ petition filed by mobile tower operators is pending in Bombay high court. “The court has directed us to maintain status quo, so we cannot take action,” said CL Undage, assistant engineer, building and proposals department, BMC.

Experts said the BMC should at least work towards controlling radiation levels and reducing the health risk, if it cannot remove these mobile phone towers. “To avoid having to make the big investment needed to install more towers, mobile tower owners increase the radiation level of the existing towers. The high level of radiation affects the health of people living in the vicinity,” said Professor Girish Kumar, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay.

In January 2011, an inter-ministerial committee report recommended that radiation exposure be reduced to 450 mw/sq m, but the suggestion has not yet been implemented.

“The solution is to reduce the radiations levels and install towers only on the tallest building in a locality, which has no buildings of similar height around it,” said Kumar.

Vinod Shah, a resident of Carmichael Road in D-ward, which has the second highest number of mobile phone towers in the city – 303, of which 141 are illegal – said the BMC should contest the issue in court.

“The BMC should bring the health hazards owing to radiation to the notice of the high court,” he said.

Shah said the towers have affected the health of many people in D-ward, which includes Malabar Hill, Kemp’s Corner and Grant Road. “The radiation levels are very high even when measured 200 to 300 meters away from the site. Residents have health issues all the time,” he said.

Shah, who lives at Ajanta Apartments, added, “We have had two fatal cases of cancer in our building since these towers have been erected.”

The K-west ward, which includes Andheri (West) and Oshiwara, have the highest number of mobile phone towers at 323, of which more than 50% - 198 — are unauthorised.

Almost 50% of mobile phone towers in Mumbai are illegal - Hindustan Times

Towering Heights: Pros and Cons

by Neha Kumar Article in Elektor India - August Issue 2012- Microcontroller Special Issue - Pg 54 Towering Heights: Pros and Cons

High Court to Govt: Ban on mobile phone towers within 50 metre of schools, hospitals and residential localities

Jul 23, 201 - Times of India Delhi HC issues notice to govt over mobile towers

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court Monday issued notices to central and Delhi governments on a plea to ban high-frequency mobile phone towers in residential areas as its radiation causes health hazards. Justice Rajiv Shakdher sought response from the Department of Telecommunication, the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government and a leading mobile service provider by Jan 14, 2013. The court's direction came on a plea of Ramnath Garg seeking imposition of ban on installation of high frequency mobile phone towers within 50 metre of schools, hospitals and residential localities. The petition said: "Respondents to be directed to stop the radio frequency waves emitted from cell phone towers causing radiation in the schools, hospitals and residential localities, in which the towers be not allowed to be installed in 50 metres of the places." "The radiation from the cell phone towers causes different type of swelling in the brain, head, hearing disorder, headache and anxiety neurosis... but no action is taken for the safety of the persons living around the towers," the petition further said. Garg also sought directions to the Department of Telecom, private operators and the state government to take steps to reduce exposure to radiation. The petition asked the court to enforce guidelines prepared by a committee formed in 2010 to study health hazards from cell phone towers. Garg also claimed compensation of Rs 50 lakh, saying that his 30-year-old son died of cancer caused by radiation from a mobile tower on the roof of his house. He said the common man is being misled by the cell phone companies and even the civic authorities. "The amount to be given for the negligence of the respondents causing death to his son," said the petition. Garg claimed that local state government officials approached him in 2009 with a proposal to install a tower on the roof of his house in Surajmal Vihar. Though he urged the officials not to erect a very high frequency tower, they misled him, said the petition. As per the petition, all his family members gained weight over one year, but with time they faced sleeping difficulties, digestion problems and their health began to deteriorate. Then a doctor advised him to get the tower removed from his house, suspecting it might be responsible for their health problems, the petition added.

Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachan on Mobile Tower Radiation Hazards

Video screened at Workshop on Cell Tower/Cell Phone Radiation Hazards and Solutions organized by Prof. Girish Kumar at IIT Bombay on 9th July 2012

Snapshots of: Shahrukh Khan and Kajol from the movie - My Name is Khan

Amitabh Bachan, Farah Ali Khan, Pritish Nandy and Shekhar Kapoor share their views on Twitter and Blogger

Amitabh Bachan - KBC chat on sparrow decline due to excessive radiation from mobile towers.

Workshop Website: http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~mwave/workshop2 Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Celltowerradiation

ICNIRP Guideline - averaged over 6min exposure! Then why adopted for 24*7?

The Industry and Government bodies like TERM Cell have consistently been stating that they are within "International Standards" for Cell Tower Radiation and, hence are completely safe. Let us have a closer look at what these "standards" are:

1) ICNIRP 1998 - stands for International Commission on Non- Ionizing Radiation Protection. These guideline are averaged over only 6 minutes exposure, however the Indian Government has adopted it for 24*7 exposure:

2) Several other countries have adopted much lower values. Please have a look at: http://neha-wilcom.blogspot.in/2012/04/mobile-tower-radiation-hazards.html for standards adopted by different countries.

The question is - Why do each of these countries have different standards ranging from several hundred to thousand times in magnitude?

3) The maximum value measured by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) was 100 times lower than the ICNIRP guideline. In that case why do they have an apprehension in reducing the guideline by 10 times (which has been proposed since Feb 2011)

Even if government adopts 1/10th of ICNIRP, the industry will be within norm and does not have to reduce the power transmission

4 Why does Blackberry manual carry warning messages "keep the device 0.98 inches away from your body?" http://neha-wilcom.blogspot.in/2011/06/in-cell-phone-manufacturers-own-words.html

5) Why do we see warning signals on mobile towers " CAUTION: Non Ionizing Radiation" when the industry has been saying non-ionizing radiation is completely safe.

These are just some of the points. For more information you can read: http://www.scribd.com/doc/93413060