The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will impose a fine of Rs 5 lakh on infrastructure firms if their base transceiver stations (BTS) had not received environmental clearance by November 15.
“All base transceiver stations, which have not been certified by November 15, 2010, or are not compliant, face a penalty of Rs five lakh each,” an official statement said here today.
BTS facilitates wireless communication between equipment and a mobile network. There are 560,000 BTS operational in the country, of which 416,000 systems have so far been self-certified for adherence to the standards prescribed by International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the statement said.
DoT had extended the deadline for self-certificates to the Telecom Engineering and Resource Monitoring (TERM) Cells of DoT to November 15 from May 15.
“Even though there is no direct evidence of negative health-related implication of these radiations, the government is seized of the concerns raised in this regard and, as such, made self-certification a basic minimum requirement that telecom companies must adhere to,” Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in the statement.
In another development, a study released by the industry bodies Cellular Operators Association of India and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India said the radiation levels in Delhi are much below the international safety standards, putting to rest the growing public concern over emission of harmful radiation and related health hazards from mobile towers.
The study further said cumulative emissions from the cellular mobile towers are much below the prescribed limit set by the ICNIRP.