Tripura restricts cellphone towers for fear of radiation

Article in Thaindian News
July 8th, 2008

Agartala, July 8 (IANS) Fearing radiation harmful to human health, the Tripura government has imposed restrictions against setting up Base Tower Stations (BTS) for mobile phones. The Tripura State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) issued a public notification in newspapers directing mobile telephone service providers to obtain prior written permission from the authority before setting up BTS.

“Following complaints from various quarters about the ill-effects of radiation from the mobile phones and BTS, the state government has sought legal clarification and scientific explanation from the central government about this radioactivity,” said Tripura Science and Technology Minister Joy Gobinda Debroy.

“There is no tangible scientific report about the effect of radiation of BTS and mobile phones, but it has been well-known that radioactivity beyond tolerant limits has dreadful affect on living organisms, that is why it is necessary to identify the amount of radio activity before starting the BTS operation,” the minister told reporters.

TSPCB chairperson Mihir Deb added that the union environment minister had recently issued a notification imposing a ban on setting up BTS in educational institutions, hospitals and densely populated areas.

“Recently, mobile phone towers in schools, hospital premises and heavily populated areas have been banned in some cities in India and it was made mandatory to take permission from the appropriate authority,” added a TSPCB official.

“This was done to limit the harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation exposure, following the stringent provisions of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) coming into force in May,” he added.

According to some scientific reports, the prevalence of brain tumours has increased by 30 percent among regular mobile phone users globally.

“Mobile phone and BTS radiations could affect human health; the increase of cancer and other dreadful diseases in the country might be due to the effect of such radiations,” said oncologist Partha Sarathi Sutradhar.