TRAI rules out mobile tower-radiation cancer link

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 21

The Telecom Regularity Authority of India (TRAI) has ruled out the notion that radiations from mobile phone towers led to cancer and other dreaded disease in humans.

Principal adviser of TRAI SK Gupta while replying to queries of participants at a Telecom Consumer Outreach Programme organised by the TRAI here said it was a wrong notion that radiation emitted from telecommunication towers could be a cause of cancer among humans living in the close vicinity to the tower. He said there was no scientific study so far to prove this point.

“It is a wrong impression that mobile tower radiations will cause cancer. We have often come across people opposing installation of mobile towers on pretext of its harmful effect of radiations,” Gupta said.

He said ultimately people had to decide as to whether they want mobile connectivity or not as mobiles cannot work without towers. He pointed out that emission level in mobile towers was put to even lower levels than world standards and thus, blaming towers for any human disease was not judicious.

Gupta cautioned people of not giving money on the excuse of installing mobile towers in their land. “We have come across cases when people have complained of giving money as taxes to some fraud agencies for installing mobile towers on their piece of land. The agencies promise them of being paid a good rent,” he said.

Referring to the outreach programme, Gupta said such programmes were meant to create awareness among telecom consumers about their rights and privileges. He highlighted about various measures taken by the TRAI in the recent times to protect interests of consumers through various consumer-centric regulations.

TRAI adviser Agneshwar Sen and senior research officer GP Vishnoi also spoke on the occasion.

A large number of telecom consumers, representatives of telecom service providers of Uttarakhand, consumer forums and NGOs participated in the programme.