Times
of India: New Delhi: Monday, 23 February 2015.
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has
pulled up the environment ministry for providing "false and misleading"
information that it had conducted no study on the harmful effects of mobile
radiation. It has also asked the ministry to explain why it allowed
unrestricted installation of mobile towers and not formulated a policy on it.
The commission was hearing a case related to RTI
applicant Suresh Chandra Guptha who sought information related to a WHO study
that said electromagnetic waves from mobile towers could be possible
carcinogens for a kind of brain cancer.
The applicant sought to know whether the environment
ministry had declared these radio waves as air pollutants, details of steps
taken by the ministry to reduce their impact, and if any study was done to
measure the harmful biological effects of waves emanating from cell phone
towers on human health.
The ministry said it had not undertaken or
sponsored any such study. However, during the hearing it came to light that
there was an inter-ministerial group which studied the matter and submitted a
report in 2010.
Information commissioner Shridhar Acharyulu
expressed "surprise" that the ministry claimed there was no study
when an inter-ministerial group in 2010 and the WHO had said there was adverse
impact of radiation on human health and made several suggestions on the
"crucial issue".
"The commission found that the answer of the
CPIO in response to this RTI request is false and misleading. The ministry said
there is no report when they knew or presumed to have known the content of both
the reports by WHO and the inter-ministerial group," the order said.
"The commission is surprised that the
respondent authority knew that the report was submitted by the
inter-ministerial group, but officers neither cared to submit the copy of the
report nor read it. The commission could trace the report from the websites of
department of telecommunication and DDA," Acharyulu, who issued a show
cause notice to the ministry, said.
The report of the inter-ministerial group
highlighted the adverse effects of radiation on human health and made very
specific recommendations of not permitting cell towers near schools,
residential colonies and hospitals, he said.
Acharyulu also came down heavily on Delhi
Development Authority, asking it to explain why it was propagating false
information that there was no adverse effects of radiation on human beings and
carrying on with the installation of mobile towers.
The commission also directed Delhi government to
probe reasons for ignoring "vital" reports on harmful effects of
mobile towers on human health while giving permission for installation of
mobile towers on roof tops. Acharyulu instructed the chief minister's office to
inform people about measures to be initiated in relation to recommendations of
the 2010 report and also by the WHO.
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