A portal to check mobile-tower radiation level

IN THE backdrop of a growing debate over ill-effects of radiations from mobile towers, the Centre on Tuesday launched a web portal — Tarang Sanchar (www.tarangsanchar.gov.in) — which allows people to check if the radiation from a tower in a particular area is compliant with the prescribed norms. Recently, the Supreme Court ordered deactivation of a mobile tower in Gwalior on the plea of a 42-year old cancer patient.

Apart from checking the compliance of telecom towers in their areas for free, users of the portal can also have a test conducted on a particular site by paying Rs 4,000.

At the launch of the portal, Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) Manoj Sinha said that the service would empower consumers to know about the compliance of the towers in an area, and whether they meet the electromagnetic field emission norms as defined by the government. Dispelling fears about harmful rays being emitted from such towers, he added that the portal would ensure that people have the correct information about radiation from such infrastructure.

“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,” Sinha said, pointing out that the permissible limit of radiation from mobile towers set by India was 10 times more stringent than the global norms.

Speaking at the sidelines of the event, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India’s director general Rajan Mathews said that if telecom companies get the necessary permits, they would plan to roll out around 1,00,000 towers during the next one year to meet capacity and coverage requirements across the country.