Fears over harm from telecom towers put to rest by Courts

Health can’t be cited as a reason anymore for denial of permission to set up telecom towers after recent court judgements but the authorities must hasten the process of approvals if call drops have to come down, a top stakeholder has said. “With the judgements of the Delhi High Court, the municipal body can’t say any more that they will not give permission to erect towers, citing health reasons,” said Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators’ Association of India. In order to provide good 3G and 4G connections, more towers will be required, in any case.” In two recent judgements that went rather unnoticed, the Delhi High Court dismissed pleas that wanted directions to the authorities to prevent setting up of cellular towers, on the ground that radio frequency emissions from them were harmful. Therefore, there is no need to further reduce the limits without conclusive studies by international standards bodies and India’s own conclusive research and findings.” The Allahabad High Court also issued directions calling upon the Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring Cell to submit a report with regard to the possible ramifications of the installation of the mobile towers and the base transceiver station.