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New Delhi, Aug. 10 (PTI): The environment ministry has said radiation emitted by mobile towers hurts wildlife, especially birds and bees, and asked the department of telcommunication (DoT) not to permit new towers within a 1km radius of an existing one.
In an advisory, the ministry said there was an “urgent need” to refine the Indian standard on safe limits of exposure to electro-magnetic radiations.
Till that is done, “a precautionary approach shall be preferred to minimise the exposure levels and adopt stricter norms possible, without compromising on optimum performance of the networks”, it said.
Accordingly, the ministry asked the DoT to ensure that mobile towers are not constructed within 1km radius of the existing ones “so as to not obstruct flight path of birds, and also not to increase the combined radiation from all towers” in the area.
The advisory has been issued on the basis of an expert committee study on possible impacts of communication towers on wildlife and bees. The panel was constituted by the environment ministry in 2010.
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