Other States - Himachal Pradesh   

Protests in Shimla over telecom towers

Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA: People's Action Group, a local NGO raising issues of public interest here, has strongly opposed "unplanned" installation of telecom towers in the thickly populated residential areas of the city by some private telecom operators.

In a statement on Tuesday, the voluntary organisation blamed the local Municipal Corporation for ignoring the health of Shimla residents and letting some operators raising these towers in connivance with petty local politicians.

Demanding an immediate ban on installations of any more of these towers, the action group has sought clarification on the criteria set by the Corporation for sanctioning the installations in residential areas.

Six private telecom operators are running operations in this hill town.

Quoting a recent landmark judgment of a Mumbai court wherein radiation-emitting cell phone towers were ordered dismantled and removed from residential areas of Mumbai, he said the Municipal Corporation of Shimla should also follow suit.

The Commisioner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, Shekhar Gupta, when contacted by this correspondent admitted that permission had been given to about 40 such towers here. "But no permanent No Objection Certificates have been given to these companies," he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Protests in Shimla over telecom towers
Institutional deliveries on the rise

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu