SHILLONG:
A seminar on “Electromagnetic radiations from mobile towers” was held on Wednesday.
It was conducted by Sr DDG, NE LSA, Department of Telecommunications which seeks to demystify myths among the public while giving permissions for mobile towers.
It was also organised in other North Eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura.
Stating that towers are going to be an integral part of human lives, Deputy Director General (Compliance) NE Service Area Ashok Kumar Jain stressed on the need for more towers as part of roll of the 5G networks and proliferation of 5G services in the country.
Coming to the theme of the seminar, Jain said, “Is there any need to be fearful of electromagnetic radiations from these mobile towers? My answer is no.”
Jain informed that there are around 1crore 56 lakhs mobile subscribers in NE region, out of which 84.75 lakh are wireless broadband subscribers.
“Out of 17199 villages in the region, around 4500 are still without any mobile signal of any operator, which results into around 26 per cent uncovered villages in the region. As such, the government has been planning various schemes under Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) to improve Telecom network and its services in the region. Towers in these remote locations shall be an integral part of providing services to these uncovered areas,” he said at the programme.
Seeking to allay fears of electromagnetic radiations from mobile towers, the speakers at the programme dispelled the link of increase in cancer cases to the installation of mobile towers.
Speaking on the topic ‘Concerns of health hazards : perspective of a health expert’, Dr Arun Chougule who is a senior professor and head department of Radiological Physics, SMS Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur via video conference said that cancer cases are increasing due to carcinogens and lifestyle habits and there is no evidence that it is due to mobile towers.
DDG Mizoram DoT NE LSA K. Sri Krishna said that telecom towers are safe and gave a slide presentation on precautionary guidelines for mobile users. He further said that the Indian government has defined some of the most stringent emission standards for mobile towers making India one of the few countries worldwide with the most stringent emission standards for mobile towers.
“We follow norms that are 10 times stricter than what has been prescribed by ICNIRP and recommended by WHO. DoT continuously monitors the EMF emission levels from towers across India and ensures compliance with emission norms across the country through its field. All telecom service providers are required to ensure the radiation from mobile towers (BTSs) is within prescribed safe limits”, he said.
He added that there is a need to bust the myth about the health effects of Electromagnetic Field Radiation (EMR) exposure from diverse EMR sources especially Mobile BTS antennae and mobile phones and the public must rely on the scientific data that EMF radiation from the mobile tower is safe.
USE OF FOREIGN SIM AND FRAUDSTERS
Speaking on the use of foreign SIM in border areas using signals of foreign telecos bypassing international routes which is a violation of Telegraph Act, Jain said, “A serious issue from national security point of view. District administration and police authorities of the border districts are requested to make a note of it for suitable action, as required.”
On the other hand, he informed about fraudsters coming into swing and cheating people in the name of taking properties on rent for erection of mobile towers.
It is learned that the fraudster companies/agencies cheat the public by promising them hefty monthly rental payment on granting permission to set up mobile towers on their private space and ask them to deposit money in their account as security deposit/application money or in any other pretext.