An inter-ministerial committee has stated that the electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation from mobile towers must be brought down to one-tenth of existing levels. This is part of the committee?s proposed guidelines to mitigate the EMF radiation emitted by mobile base stations mounted on cellular phone towers.
Moreover, the panel has suggested continuous online monitoring and display of emissions and establishing a national database of the stations.
According to TRAI, India has approximately 0.4 million mobile towers. These towers consume substantial amounts of energy and diesel.
Mobile operators, apart from self-certification for compliance of radiation norms, shall measure the radiation levels in mobile network frequency range of prominent places and display it for information to the public. A mobile unit will have to be ready for such measurement when necessary.
Originally, the committee had discussed imposing restrictions on mobile towers within school and hospital premises.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had rejected this recommendation and instead requested it to incorporate uniform guidelines to enforce restrictions on setting up base transceiver station towers, along with an appropriate framework to ensure structural safety clearance for towers set up on rooftops of buildings.
In the master plans of towns and cities, the location for installing towers will be identified in consultation with the ministry of urban development.
New-technology low-power transmitters will be installed with in-building solutions for future expansion of the mobile network.
The government will also encourage long term scientific research related to health aspects of EMF radiation exposure from multiple antennae of shared infrastructure sites.
