Shift mobile towers away from schools in 3 months: Karnataka government

Bengaluru: The mobile phone towers located within 50-metre radius from a school, college, hospital or religious centres will have to be relocated. The decision was taken keeping in mind the numerous complaints received by the educational institutions and hospitals.

During a meeting on Monday convened by Deputy Chief Minister Dr G. Parameshwar, in which civic officials and various stakeholders took part, it was decided that mobile phone towers located within 50 metres radius from school, colleges and hospitals should be moved away keeping in mind the health issues.

A senior officer from the BBMP, who attended the meeting, said, "The Karnataka Installation of New Telecommunication Infrastructure Regulation 2015 has brought in new rules, after the BBMP received repeated complaints that the towers located near educational institution were a menace, as it was creating a buzz kind of noise, whenever the generators are switched on. We reviewed the complaints and informed the concerned department. We do not have any physical evidence, but still it will be relocated at the earliest."

The companies have been directed by the DyCM to relocate the towers within three months and also obtain licence, the officer added.

"Educational institutions and hospitals can also write to the BBMP about the location of the towers within 50 metres and we will coordinate with the officials concerned and ensure that they are removed. The companies who own these towers should compulsorily obtain licence and for new towers they will have to pay Rs 1 lakh as fee to get the licence and permission to erect them."

According to sources, there are 6,766 towers in the city catering to optical fibre and mobile phone networks and around 30,000 across the state.

Cell phone towers emit electro-magnetic field radiation and the scientific community believes is divided over whether they affect the health of people living near it or not.