Over 50 pc mobile towers in Mumbai unauthorised, House told

Blaming the BMC officers for turning a blind eye towards mushrooming mobile towers in the metropolis, Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Bhaskar Jadhav today told the Legislative Council here that over 50 per cent of them were unauthorised.
Assuring the legislators in the Upper House that action will be taken against errant Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officers, he said the state government will consider discontinuing power supply to these unauthorised towers.
Jadhav was responding to a calling attention motion moved by NCP legislator Prakash Binsale on the matter.
"As per the survey done by BMC in 2011, there are 3,705 mobile towers in the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation out of which 1,830 are unauthorised. However, after BMC started taking action in 2010 against these towers, mobile companies moved the Bombay High Court and got a stay over their eviction in October 2011," Jadhav said.

"We cannot deny that BMC officers were responsible for this. These 1,830 towers did not come up overnight. The civic officers failed to stop them and electricity supply is being provided to these towers," he said.
The minister said that while the central government has a policy regarding mobile towers, the state government or municipal bodies did not have any.
He said the state government's draft policy in this regard is being prepared and policies of municipal bodies will also be announced soon.