NHRC seeks report on radiation from mobile phone towers

‘Right to Health and Right to Life of a common man could be under serious threat’

GN Bureau | June 3, 2016


#ministry of health   #ministry of communications and information technology   #health   #IT   #technology   #human rights   #telecom   #NHRC  


The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the ministries of communications and information technology and ministry of health, calling for a report in the wake of allegations in a complaint that mobile phone towers, in the close vicinity of residential areas, are emitting radiations, hazardous to the health of human beings. The secretaries of the two ministries have been given two weeks to respond.

In a press statement on Thursday, the commission observed that today's generation is “living among mobile towers, digital cables, mobiles etc.” and the virtual world has encompassed every aspect of human life. “In such a scenario, if the allegations levelled in the complaint are true, the Right to Health and Right to Life of a common man are under serious threat. The government should adopt strategies which ensure that development is done without causing any substantive damage to the life and health of human beings and other living things.”

The complainant has mentioned in detail the ill-effects of electro-magnetic radiations and has cited various scientific studies and guidelines. He has submitted that a radiation is a threat to human health and life, especially patients, children, old people and the foetus. He has also referred to a government order dated August 21, 2013 which states that the local self-government institutions should confirm that "the proposed tower is not coming within 500 metres of schools/hospitals".

He has stated that this order is imperfect because it does not cover "houses" but only "schools/hospitals", which should not be within 500 metres of a mobile phone tower. Allegedly, due to this “imperfect and illogical” government order, the mobile operators are violating safe radiation range and are erecting towers in thickly populated residential areas thereby exposing people to electro-magnetic radiation. They tempt the land owners by quoting fabulous prices for erecting the mobile towers.

He said that the question is not only of the unsafe mobile phone towers in the residential areas but also of the excessive level of radiation emanating from them. Even if each of the towers of 11 mobile network companies operating in India does not exceed the radiation limit singularly, the combined radiation range of all these towers, with the advent of 3G, 4G etc., together far exceed the permissible limits of safety.

The fact that a sum of Rs 10.80 crore was reported to have been collected as fine up to May 31, 2015 from various mobile operating companies for violating radiation range is a proof that the safe radiation ranges are often being violated by them. The faulty and unsafe fittings of diesel generators to run the mobile towers also cause lot of air pollution.

 

Comments

 

Other News

Enhanced MCA21 V3 Portal Paves the Way for Improved Corporate Governance

By Sudhir Chaturvedi, Executive Board Member & President- Markets, LTIMindtree Corporate governance has always been a critical issue for businesses in India. As part of its ongoing digitalization drive, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) recently launched the latest

“I pray to God that such an incident never happens in future”

Life is slowly limping back to normalcy in Bahanaga, a block headquarters town in Odisha’s Balasore district that witnessed one of the deadliest rail disasters of the century. Train operations have resumed as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun the probe into the accident that claimed

Gandhi’s Triumph over the Fear of Death

The Essential U. R. Ananthamurthy Edited by N. Manu Chakravarthy and Chandan Gowda Aleph Books, Rs 899, 312 pages

Bird walks for youngsters to be held across India

Early Bird and the Rainmatter Foundation have announced five bird walks, led by naturalists, across India on June 10. The walks, to be held in Agartala, Dehradun, Mysore, Panjim, and Tirupati early in the morning, are part of the Rainmatter Foundation’s Walking Lightly campaign, being observed throug

India celebrates Environment Day with thrust on Mission LiFE

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India organized the World Environment Day on Monday with a thrust on Mission LiFE. The concept of LiFE, i.e., Lifestyle for Environment was introduced by prime minister Narendra Modi at the World Leaders` Summit in Glasgow at COP26, when

Green banking: an emerging way forward

Green Banking is an initiative taken by the banks to promote environment-friendly practices and reduce carbon footprint of their activities. Green financing (a part of ‘Green Banking’) is a broad term that can refer to a financial investment flowing into sustainable development projects and ini

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter