Monday, January 26, 2015

Two years after RTI plea, Palike clueless on number of telecom towers

Deccan Herald: Bengaluru: Monday, 26 January 2015.
Government ready with draft byelaw for towers, optical fibre cables.
After repeated protests by the public against the telecom towers coming up in their neighbourhood without seeking their consent, the State government has finally prepared a draft byelaw as part of its telecom policy.
In response to a two-year-old RTI application, BBMP came out with information that the government had prepared a draft byelaw for telecom towers, optical fibre cables and installation of other basic infrastructure.
However, even after two years, BBMP continues to state that it does not have information on the exact number of telecom towers in its jurisdiction, although it is the local governing body of the core area of the haphazardly growing City. The reason cited by the BBMP was that the telecom firms were not required to seek its permission to instal telecom towers even on residential buildings.
The RTI application was filed on January 24, 2013, seeking information about the number of telecom towers in the City, mechanism to check radiation, restrictions to put up towers and the agency to monitor them.
The RTIs were filed with different departments such as office of the Chief Secretary of Karnataka, Principal Secretary in the Urban Development Department (UDD), Principal Secretary in the Environment and Forests Department and the BBMP. While the UDD gave some information, the BBMP gave vague information, prompting the applicant to approach the Karnataka Information Commission.
The 43-page draft policy proposes the timeline for the Corporation commissioners to give all the clearances (within 68 days) if all the conditions are duly met.
There are some strict guidelines for laying the Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs) and erecting telecom towers. The Corporations are permitted to provide ducts and lay the OFCs with sufficient bandwidth capacity/redundancy.
Licence for laying the OFCs shall not be transferable. All unauthorised OFCs should be removed once this proposal is accepted and becomes a rule.
The rule also intends to discourage laying overhead cables. It strictly prohibits use of electricity poles or towers of power utilities to lay overhead communication cables.
The maximum height of the ground-based mast/rooftop mast shall not exceed 30 metres from the adjoining ground level and the distance between two masts shall not be less than 150 metres in line of sight to the extent feasible.
The height of the mobile/ communication towers from the adjoining ground level shall not exceed 75 metres. “Erection of the mobile/communication towers shall be avoided in narrow lane, which is below five metres in width,” says the draft rule.
Radiation level must be checked at regular intervals and conformance report should be submitted to the competent authority. Non-compliance would attract penalties.