According to the revised guidelines for cell towers, the amount payable by the service providers to MCD for installing a tower has been increased from the present Rs1 lakh to Rs5 lakh.
Mobile users in Delhi can heave a sigh of relief as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) today said it will not go for a sealing drive of "illegal" cellphone towers in the city but maintained that the operators who have erected such structures will have to apply for regularisation within a month.
As the civic agency's new policy on mobile towers was approved by the MCD Standing Committee, the panel's chairman Ram Kishan Singhal said, "We do not want to create a panic situation in Delhi and disrupt cell network. We will not launch a sealing drive against illegal towers."
Singhal, however, asserted that all operators who have erected cell towers without permission will have to apply to MCD for regularisation within one month. In case of non-compliance, the structures will be dismantled according to the policy, he said.
The ruling BJP in MCD also maintained that the health hazards of cell towers have not been scientifically proved.
"The MCD sought advice from WHO in this matter, which has opined that considering the very low exposure level and research results, there is no convincing evidence that the weak signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects," BJP councillors Vijender Gupta said.
According to the revised guidelines for cell towers, the amount payable by the service providers to MCD for installing a tower has been increased from the present Rs1 lakh to Rs5 lakh, said Meera Aggarwal, who headed the sub-committee for formulation of the policy that submitted its report today.
The issue saw a heated debate between opposition Congress and ruling BJP in the Standing Committee meeting. Congress demanded that illegal towers must be sealed immediately and accused the BJP of being "in league" with operators.
The BJP, on its part, also accused the Congress of seeking to form a "nexus" with operators, saying that it wants a sealing drive so that the tower owners can get a court stay and get the matter delayed. The MCD has said it will remove mobile towers installed on schools, hospitals and dispensaries soon.
Officials said out of 4,532 mobile towers in the city, only 2,015 have requisite permission and the remaining 2,517 were illegal. Out of the 2,500 towers, applications of 1,600 were pending with MCD while 900 were completely illegal.
Under the revised policy, all municipal buildings, including community centres, will get the priority for site selection for new mobile towers.
Such structures will also be allowed in other government
buildings, commercial and institutional buildings and vacant land after clearance from concerned authority. Erection of cell towers on residential buildings will only be allowed when no alternative is there.
Some of the new norms that have been included in the policy is to make the owner of the building a co-applicant while seeking permission to erect a cell tower, taking permission from all flat occupants and the society in case of group housing societies and NoCs from all floor owners in case of residential buildings having different owners.
The No-objection Certificate for towers will have to be renewed every five years, the policy said.
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