ISLAMABAD: In an operation against illegal cellular companies’ towers, Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has issued notices to the cellular companies seeking legal information and directed them to fulfil criteria or remove their illegal telecom towers from the residential and commercial areas of Islamabad.
According to the letter, DMA is seeking information regarding their NOCs, their GPS site code, GPS coordinates, BTS site colour, and Hostname etc.
Last month, the authority had launched a drive against unauthorised telecom towers and those installed on rooftops without proper security measures.
“Following the said operation, 324 dry batteries of cellular towers have been confiscated while 90 sites where illegal towers were installed were also sealed,” said DMA Assistant Director Karamatillah Khan.
The MCI also conducted a recent survey, according to which 517 telecom towers are working in Islamabad.
So far, the DMA has recovered 180 million pending dues from different cellular companies including Warid, Telenor, Ufone and Zong.
Talking to Pakistan Today, DMA director said that most of these towers have been installed in residential areas, on rooftops or in commercial areas without proper safety measures that could cause an untoward incident during extreme weather conditions.
He said that besides 517 licensed, there are almost 300 illegal and unlicensed towers operating in the rural Islamabad, and the directorate has planned to either get them in the circle of legitimacy or remove them.
“When the dry batteries of telecom towers were confiscated, concerned companies came and questioned why the DMA had removed their batteries, then they were asked to submit their dues and till now 180 million has been recovered,” he said.
An MCI official, requesting anonymity, said that if any company plans to install Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) tower in an open plot, it should be situated at least 200 feet away from the residential area,” said the official.
He said the cellular companies are adopting old methods in setting up towers despite modern technology in which the towers of a very small diameter could be set up.
When contacted, MCI spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said that operation against illegal towers has been started by the DMA on the directions of Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz. He said that operation is in full swing sans any fear and favour.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier in June and July 2016, two telecom towers installed on rooftops near residential area collapsed in the twin cities.
One of the Telco tower, situated in Sector G-9, came down on June 2 in a rainstorm. Second Telco tower fell down near Rawalpindi District Courts on July 18. Fortunately, in both incidents, no causality was reported.
There are also speculations that mobile signal tower radiations causes cancer and are source of thousands diseases of minor and major nature.
Moreover, MCI’s Emergency and Disaster Management (E&DM), on Aug 27, also wrote a letter to the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) chairman demanding that it must take a stern action against the radiation being spread by these mobile towers and relocate them as they pose serious health threat to the public at large.
“Mobile towers were causing critical health constraints across Pakistan, especially in the capital. The trend of these towers was responsible for giving birth to ‘billions of complicated diseases like brain tumors, high blood pressure etc., reads the letter, but no authority turned a deaf ear to the directives. The letter further stated: “It had requested for a policy review, by relocating all such high-grade radiation emitting gadgets away from residential areas, thus assuring life and safety of the innocent residents in every street, sector, and colony of the capital.”
[…] Source: Pakistan Today […]
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