In a relief to cellphone users and operators in the national capital, the MCD has said it will refrain from sealing illegal towers till April 16 and offer a single-window service to them to regularise such structures.

"We will provide a single-window service at all the 12 MCD zonal offices to enable cellular operators get their illegal towers regularised," MCD Standing Committee Chairman Ram Kishan Singhal said.

"The services will be available on April 15 and 16. Till then, no sealing of illegal towers will take place in the city," he said.

The step has been taken in the wake of complaints that tower operators were facing problems in getting the illegal structures regularised.

The MCD has sealed about 240 illegal towers in the capital so far. Officials said out of 5,364 towers in the city, only 2,412 have requisite permission and the remaining 2,952 were illegal.

The civic body had issued notices to 1,532 cellular operators, asking them to either apply for regularisation or remove the towers if they cannot be regularised.

The MCD had on February 9 unveiled a new policy on mobile towers and given a month's time to operators who have erected illegal structures to apply for regularisation.

According to the revised guidelines for cell towers, the amount payable by the service providers to MCD for installing a tower has been increased from the present Rs one lakh to Rs 5 lakh. The MCD said all municipal buildings, including community centres, will get the priority for site selection for new mobile towers.

Such structures will also be allowed in other government buildings, commercial and institutional buildings and vacant land after clearance from concerned authority. Erection of cell towers on residential buildings will only be allowed when there is no alternative.