dna exclusive: Committee formed to study cell tower radiation, says Milind Deora

The Union government has formed a committee to study the harmful effects of radiation from the mobile phone towers on citizens and its adverse impact on the ecology. This is the first such study undertaken by the Centre.

Union minister of state for IT and communication Milind Deora told dna, “This committee is carrying out an India-centric study in which it will examine the harmful effects of radiation from cell phone towers on the population living in the vicinity as well as its adverse impact on ecology.”

Deora added that the study is currently being undertaken and will take some time to be completed.

The committee is headed by Dr NK Ganguly, former director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), with representatives from Department of Telecommunications, IIT Chennai, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (Lucknow), Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Department of Science and Technology.

Deora said that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is not showing the leadership it should have in preparing the mobile tower policy. “The BMC should take a lead and prepare a robust policy to better regulate the mobile towers in the city. It should do this on a war footing as per the advisory guidelines issued by the DoT last month,” added Deora.

When asked about activists’ demand of putting a cap on the number of antennas on a mobile tower, Deora said we have gone through every aspect in the ministry to frame a policy at the national level.