Vashi residents use RTI tool to check legality of towers in city

NAVI MUMBAI: Residents of sector 9A in Vashi have filed a Right to Information (RTI) application to inquire about the legality of the mobile towers atop the neighbouring Anand Niketan Society. The RTI application comes after repeated requests to the society to pull down the mobile towers as it was leading to health problem among residents in the area.

“Before filing the RTI, we reached out to various societies in the area with mobile towers to explain to them about the health problems that members of our society were facing. Although one society paid heed to our requests, Anand Niketan soci- ety had turned a deaf ear to our pleas,” said Pramod Upadhyay, one of the residents of Indulekha Society, who have filed the application. The society is less than 20 metres from the towers.

Upadhyay has also written to Milind Deora, minister of state for telecommunications to intervene in the matter.

According to residents of I ndulekha Society, Anand Niketan Society has two mobile towers on its terrace with six antennae and amplifiers. According to the guidelines of the Union department of telecommunication, there should be a minimum of distance of 35 metres between a building and antennae on a nearby building.

“After I started developing various health problems, I got radiation levels in my top-floor flat measured by an independent agency. The level was 22 times higher than DOT’s limit of 450 milliwatts a sq metre for a exposure of six minutes,” said Upadhyay.

Another resident from sector 9A vashi, who did not wish to be named, said, “The radiations have put our lives under threat. Within five to six months of a tower being erected on the terrace of my building, I started facing unbearable itchiness. Despite having consulted many doctors over the year, there has been no solution to the problem.”