New Delhi:
Now, people can check the level of radiation from a mobile tower in their area. The government of Indian has come up with a portal that can allow people to check whether radiation level is within the prescribed norms. Besides this, they can also request for a test to be conducted on a particular site.
Tarang Sanchar (web portal) has been in the works since few years but it will actually start functioning now with the recent Supreme Court order. A plea was filed in the court by a 42-year-old cancer patient in Gwalior regarding deactivation of a mobile tower, which led the apex court to take the decision.
The government so far was putting emphasis on the studies that have not revealed any health hazards due to radiation by mobile towers. Now, after the Supreme Court order, the portal - tarangsanchar.gov.in will officially start functioning that will give information on the radiation levels of 4.40 lakh mobile towers and 14 lakh base stations all across the country.
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This portal will empower consumers to know, at the click of the mouse, about the towers in a particular area and whether they are compliant with the electromagnetic field (EMF) emission norms as defined by the government, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said while launching the portal.
The portal will ensure the public has the right information about the radiation from such infrastructure, Sinha said while dismissing the misconceptions that mobile towers emit harmful rays.
The Telecom Minister further said “People do not want call drops, and at the same time, they oppose mobile towers. As many as 25,000 studies have been conducted by the World Health Organisation on the issue and none of them found any ill-effects on the health of people.” However, he also pointed out that the permissible limit of radiation from mobile towers set by India is 10 times more stringent than the global norms.
The users can also choose to get a tower or base station checked for radiation by paying Rs 4,000.
If the industry gets the required permissions, it will look to roll out one lakh towers in the next one year to meet capacity and coverage requirements in the country, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said while speaking on the sidelines of the event.
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With inputs from PTI.
