Cellphone services in South and West Delhi areas may be affected in coming days with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation ordering sealing of illegal mobile phone towers in its areas.
According to officials, there are 1,800 illegal towers of various telecom companies. A majority of these towers are operating from residential colonies while several others are installed on rooftops of schools and hospitals.
The sealing orders have been issued by SDMC Commissioner Manish Gupta on Wednesday, an official said. According to reports, there are a total of 6,216 mobile phone towers across the Capital of which 3,399 are operating without permission. A total of 2,817 towers are legal. According to officials, sealing action has been taken against 201 mobile towers across the city.
There are 2,800 towers within the limits of SDMC. Of these, only 1,000 towers are authorised; the rest 1,800 have been found to be operating illegally. “Repeated notices were issued to the telecom companies to remove illegal mobile towers. All illegal towers will be sealed in a phased manner,” said the official.
The Corporation sealed 90 mobile phone towers till March this year. Officials said the move came after the court’s direction to seal illegal towers. The drive also aims to check the harmful effects of radiation from the towers especially those that have come up illegally on residential buildings. This may, however, result in call drops and disruption of cellphone services in South and West Delhi areas.
To begin the drive, the SDMC Commissioner has directed officials to take action on all illegal towers set up after 2010. “Concerned over the adverse effects of radiation from these towers and its installation over unauthorised buildings and buildings closer to schools and hospitals, the corporation has decided to regulate installation of such towers,” officials said. The officials have also been asked to prepare a report on the exact number of illegal towers on schools and hospitals and seal them subsequently,” they said, adding the sealing drives initiated in the past were stalled due to pending court cases. “In several cases, the operators got relief from court. Some of the towers which were sealed had to be given permission to operate as per court orders,” officials said.
Recently, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation had also ordered sealing action against illegal mobile towers after it was found that such towers were operating from at least seven school buildings and four nursing homes in East Delhi. The EDMC had also done a survey of all the mobile towers in its areas. Out of 1470 mobile towers, 588 were found to be illegal. According to corporation officials, 26 towers were sealed for flouting the norms later.