The Hindu 07.03.2013
Special regulation for installation of telecom towers to be finalised soon
Fee structure for permission to be decided by local bodies.
The State may soon finalise special regulation for installation of telecom towers in the urban areas.
According to a recently-held high-level meeting chaired by Housing and Urban Development secretary I. Srinivas, fee structure for granting permission or renewing the installation towers will be decided by respective urban local bodies.
Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology recently circulated guidelines regarding obtaining necessary clearance from the local authorities concerned such as urban local bodies and development authorities.
Feasibility of telecom infrastructure towers already installed would be looked into on the basis of directions of the High Court by development authorities and ULBs for its continuance or shifting, the meeting resolved, adding that the special regulation for installation of telecom towers could be finalised by the month end.
The draft special regulation rules for installation of telecom towers in the urban areas prepared by the State government identified locations within 100-metre distance from educational, religious, and health institutions as prohibited zones for telecom towers.
Health hazard
The draft rule says the first preference should be given to the location of towers in the forest areas and non-residential buildings away from educational institutions and hospitals.
Treating radiations from telecom towers as a major health hazard, the State government proposed that design of the telecom towers should contain installation of minimum six radiation observation points.
Such observation point should be located approximately at the locations where the nearest fauna or habitation area exists.
Such observation points should have instruments to measure the radiation level continuously for every five minutes and should continue its operations 24x7 hours throughout the year, according to the draft rule.
