No mobile towers in Gujarat violate radiation norms: DoT

Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring cells are part of the vigilance and monitoring wing of the DoT

Random testing of more than 10,500 mobile towers across Gujarat did not find a single case of violation of radiation norms by the towers, said a senior official of Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cells, the vigilance and monitoring wing of the Department of Telecom (DoT).

“More than 10,500 mobile towers across Gujarat were tested for violation of radiation limits. But, none of them were found to be violating the norms,” said A K Tiwari, deputy director general, Gujarat, TERM cells.

He was interacting with mediapersons at a workshop on ‘Mobile Networks and Public Health’ organised by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Tiwari said that close to ten of these complaints were made by residents from Ahmedabad, upon which inspection was carried out and no violation of radiation limits by mobile towers were found.

He further said that they would carry out more than 5,000 inspections in the state before the end of the current financial year (2014-15).

Batting for raising the permitted radiation  limit of megahertz (MHz), Tiwari said, “There has been no evidence-based study correlating the impact of radiation from cell phones and cell phone towers on human health. Erecting more number of towers is a bottleneck for India’s economy and the government must raise the permitted limit for radiation level from 0.45-0.9 watt/square metre”  

“World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) permitted limit for radiation level is 4.5-9 watt/square metre of frequency. India, on the other hand, permits only 0.45-0.9 watt/square metre of radiation level, which is one-tenth of the WHO norms,” he said.

He further added that telecom operators were finding it difficult to locate sites for erecting towers even as the quality of services were being compromised because of lower limit of permitted radiation.