Question : Mobile Towers and Radition

(a) whether the Government is aware of the fact that the number of cellular towers is less in comparison to total consumers in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government for making reform in this sector and the new towers installed during the last three years; State-wise;

(c) whether the Supreme Court of India has recently directed the Department of telecommunication (DoT) to set standards to deal with the harmful radiation emitted by Mobile Towers and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether an expert committee set up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests in 2012 has suggested that electromagnetic radiation by mobile towers be treated as pollutant;

(e) if so, the details thereof and whether India has reduced the permissible radiation limits for towers to 10 times lowers than global benchmarks followed by more than 50 countries; and

(f) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) The installation of additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) is a regular and routine exercise carried out by Telecom Service Providers based on the network traffic and customer requirements. Licensed Service Area wise details of BTSs installed during the last three financial years and current financial year (till 30.09.2016) and total BTSs as on 30.09.2016 are enclosed as Annexure.

(c) No such direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has been received in Department of Telecommunications.

(d) Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had constituted an Inter- Ministerial Committee (IMC) consisting of officers from DoT, Indian Council of Medical Research (Ministry of Health), Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) in 2010 to examine the effect of EMF Radiation from mobile base stations and mobile phones. Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) in its report examined the environmental and health related concerns and indicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health; and the scientific studies as yet have not been able to confirm a cause and effect relationship between radio frequency radiation and health.
No expert committee was set up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests in 2012 on electromagnetic radiation by mobile towers. However, the matter whether Electromagnetic radiation from Mobile Tower is a “pollutant” or not, has been agitated in National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi whereby Hon’ble NGT in its judgment dated 10.12.2015 has opined that it has no jurisdiction on the issue of Electromagnetic Radiation from Mobile Tower. This implies that Electromagnetic Radiation from Mobile Tower is not a pollutant.

(e) & (f) Based on the recommendations by an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), as a precautionary measure, the norms for exposure limit for the Radio Frequency Field (Base Station Emissions) have been made 10 times more stringent than the existing limits prescribed by International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). Presently the limits for EMF radiations from Base Station in India are as below: –
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Frequency Range E-Field Strength
( Volt/Meter) H-Field Strength (Amp/Meter) Power Density (Watt/Sq.Meter)

400MHz to 2000MHz 0.434f ½ 0.0011f ½ f/2000
2GHz to 300GHz 19.29 0.05 1
(f = frequency in MHz)
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