The locals, who initially voiced their concern over the installation of the towers in residential areas, intensified their agitation recently amidst reports that prolonged exposure to the radiation from cell towers could cause cancer.

The cell phone operators had installed the towers improperly on builing tops and amidst residential localities in violation of norms, the protestors alleged and wanted the officials to dismantle them.

The officials, however, expressed their inability to do so citing technical and legal reasons.

City planner Vidyullatha said mobile operators did not take the civic body’s permission before installing the cell towers. “The corporation issued notices twice to various operators but there has been no response from them. As a final resort, the corporation served notices to the owners of the buildings on which the towers had come up,” she said.

There were 162 towers in Warangal and most of them were installed without permission from the Municipal Corporation.

The house owners, who were lured by the cell operators with high advances and handsome rents, are now feeling the heat of the protests. With civic authorities also slapping notices on them, they want the cellular operators to pack up and go but the latter, it is learnt, are moving the courts and getting stay orders.

The house owners were reportedly paid an advance deposit of ` 3 lakh besides a monthly rent of Rs 3,000 for each tower.

Explaining the risk of exposure to radiation, oncologist P Nanda Kishore said though there is no accurate information about the ill-effects of cell towers on health, people exposed to radiation for a long time face the danger of cancer affliction. Bio-chemical scientist Mirzazia Ulla Beig said people should protect themselves from radiation as it could cause many ill-effects on humans.

Meanwhile, the corporation has come up with a new guideline regarding installation of cell phone towers.

As per the new norm, a house owner, apart from fulfilling other requirements, has to take permission from neighbours before allowing a  mobile operator to install a cell tower on their building, Vidyullatha said.

Stating that 20 more applications were pending with the corporation for new cell towers, she said they would be permitted only if the mobile operators get no-objection certificates from locals.