Himachal to crackdown on illegal mobile towers

Shimla, March 10 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh government will crackdown on telecom operators for the illegal and unregulated construction of mobile phone towers in the state, a minister said here Wednesday.

"We will take action against the mobile phone companies for installing towers without the government's permission and without following the procedure and guidelines framed by the government," Town and Country Planning Minister Mahinder Singh said during the question hour in the state assembly.

He said in Shimla town alone, 118 towers have been installed by telecom service providers, of which only 16 were installed with permission.

"As many as 99 towers have been installed without the permission of authorities concerned. In some of the cases, the companies have sought permission after installing the towers," he said in reply to a question of Congress legislator Kaul Singh Thakur.

Under the guidelines, mobile service providers have to take  clearances from the government before installing a tower.

"The government framed a policy in 2006 in which guidelines, rules and regulations have been framed for installing a tower. No tower would be installed within 100 metre radius of hospitals and educational institutes," the minister said.

However, Thakur expressed concern that the towers installed in residential areas have become a health hazard.

The minister said: "The government is serious on the issue and would soon conduct studies to know the impact of electromagnetic radiations on human beings and other creatures."

Telecom giants Airtel, BSNL, Idea-Spice, Aircel, Vodafone and S. Tel are among the telecom players in Himachal Pradesh.