BMC puts cap of two mobile towers on residential buildings

Putting up cell sites, or mobile phone towers, as they are popularly known, atop residential buildings will now be a tall order. For, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to put a cap of two such base stations on buildings.

The decision was taken at a general body meeting on Friday after corporators raised questions about illegal mobile towers across the city. “There have been many complaints about harmful radiation. There are five to six towers on a building and some are illegal.

Despite this, the civic body is yet to formulate a policy to reduce the number of towers allowed on a building,” alleged Vinod Shelar, a BJP corporator. Other corporators concurred.

Admitting to a flaw in the mobile phone tower policy, Aseem Gupta, additional BMC commissioner, said, “We will put a cap of two towers on a building.”

Anil Joseph, an activist from Bandra (W), however, said the BMC had stopped short of pushing the envelope; he wanted such towers on residential buildings to be completely banned.