news details |
|
|
| Cellphone towers posing grave risks | | | SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, Oct 20: Mobile telephony was introduced in Jammu & Kashmir for the first time in the year 2003 during the chief ministership of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. Mr Sayeed convinced the Atal Behari Vajpayee government that J&K should not be deprived of the benefits of modern technology.
Initially, it was only the government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) which was allowed to operate cell-phone services in the state. Later, private players entered the fray in a big way.
Airtel, Aircel, Reliance, Tata Indicom, Vodaphone and now Idea, all these private players are trying to entice customers with seemingly lucrative offers. Despite competition, the cell-phone market in the state has been growing exponentially, keeping in step with what is happening nationwide.
To cater to the ever-increasing demand for mobiles, an essential part of day-to-day existence of the citizens now, the cellular phone companies have to install towers. The hardware and antenna required for making mobile telephony possible are mounted on these towers.
Jammu was once known as the City of Temples as tall majestic spires of temples dotted the skyline. Tall, and then taller, buildings came up later and changed the city skyline irrevocably, dwarfing the temples and hiding them behind grey concrete façades.
Even that phase is over now as mobile phone towers are the most conspicuously visible structures when you think of the city skyline. Monster-like, these tall structures made of tonnes of steel dot the landscape.
Mobile towers can broadly be classified into Roof Top Towers (RTTs) and Ground Based Towers (GBTs). As the nomenclature suggests, the RTTs are towers installed on tall buildings, mostly residential all across the city.
The GBTs usually prove costlier for the companies as they have to be built using larger quantities of steel. Besides, land has to be leased and provision has to be made for shelters for staff etc adjacent to these towers.
Given the cost benefits to the companies, they usually prefer RTTs and pay monthly rentals to the owners of the buildings.
Environmentalists, however, believe that the GBTs should be given clear preference over RTTs. They argue that the strong electromagnetic fields around these towers exerts an unhealthy effect on all life forms around them. Of course, their concerns are mainly focused on human beings living in the vicinity of these towers.
Some residents of village Meen Sarkar and Kartholi (Sarore Adda) have filed a writ petition in the Jammu & Kashmir High Court trying to stall the installation of towers by some cellular phone companies in their village.
In the petition, the residents have sought to highlight the purported ill-effects of mobile towers on human beings. They have said that the strong electromagnetic fields around these towers are very dangerous. Besides intense tissue heating, unnatural fatigue, sleeplessness and radiations can even damage DNA and prove carcinogenic in the long run.
The writ petition has been filed by lawyers Jatinder Choudhary and Shweta Sambyal on behalf of the villagers. The writ (1016/07) has been filed against several respondents including the Union of India, the State government and some cellular phone companies.
The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) gives permissions for diesel generator (DG) sets to be installed by the cellular companies. However, there are no clear guidelines regarding the setting up of the towers or what can be termed as siting criteria.
Even the Environment Protection Act, 1986, which is the basic law of the country for the protection of environment, does not cover the subject adequately.
An interesting and wide-ranging debate is likely to ensue in the civil society once the case comes up for hearing and various respondents file their counter-affidavits.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
