No mobile towers near schools, hospitals, directs Raj HC

The division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice N K Jain Senior held that radiations emitted from mobile phones and mobile base towers are "hazardous to children and patients", as accepted by the inter-ministerial committee of Central Government, and needs relocation from school, colleges, hospitals and play grounds immediately.

The order, running into more than 200 pages, has asked all the mobile companies of the country having towers erected in Rajasthan to relocate them away from schools, hospitals, colleges and playgrounds within two months.

It also asked them to relocate the towers from a periphery of 500 meters from prisons, and those falling in 100 meter distance of ancient and archaeological heritage monuments.

Earlier on September 7, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with a Rajasthan High Court's interim order to the state government to remove mobile phone towers from near the schools, hospitals and densely populated localities.

Today the court said, "We have received a large number of communications from the state and across the country that the mobile tower radiations are harmful and even the inter-ministerial committee of Central Government in its meeting in May this year has held so.

"Even the Supreme Court has held that the radiations are hazardous and supported our view while rejecting the appeal filed against our interim order for relocation of towers away from schools."

The bench relied upon the inter-ministerial meeting of Central government of May 2012, wherein it was emphasised that the electromagnetic radiations emitted from cellphone as well as towers erected for mobile communication have both thermal and non-thermal effect i.E. These waves cook human tissues just like a microwave oven if the body is exposed to these radiation for long. MORE