PANAJI: Even as villages in South Goa district remain strongly opposed to the installation of mobile towers, a joint inspection team of officials from central government’s department of telecom and gram panchayats claimed to have found out on Friday that electromagnetic frequency emissions (EMF) levels in the district are well within limits.
According to the inspection team, mobile towers coming under the jurisdiction of at least 10 gram panchayats are transmitting EMF well within permissible limits. And, in fact the emission is much lower than the safe limits prescribed by the government. Prescribed norms were followed in the testing procedure, said DoT officials.
Random tests were carried out at Betalbetim, Cavelossim, Navelim, Velim, Majorda, Nagoa, Chicalim, Bogmalo, Velsao and Verna. Results showed that average radiation at 10 villages inspected was two per cent of the limits set by the DoT, which is well within the prescribed limits.
The average value of the EMF level at the 10 locations was 8.26 milliwatts per square metre (mw/sqm) vis-à-vis the prescribed norms set by the DoT at 450 milliwatts per square metre (mw/sqm) (see graphic).
The DoT along with telecom operators is pushing for additional mobile towers in the district for seamless mobile connectivity, and the latest test findings reveal that concerns over radiation emission from towers is baseless, said the officials.
“Findings prove that such fears of health hazard are not backed by facts,” said, MM Gupta, senior DDG, Telecom Enforcement Resource Monitoring, Delhi.
Gupta, who is currently in Goa, said that lack of sufficient towers is hampering network quality and that additional towers will not only give a high grade voice and data connectivity to the state but also enhance its image as an upcoming world class IT hub. DoT sources said that EMF emissions from mobile towers if they are below the limits prescribed by ICNIRP and recommended by the WHO have no adverse impact on an individual’s health.
Furthermore the central government is part of all research and discussions by credible bodies and committees like the Indian Council of Medical Research, the World Health Organisation and the department of science and technology and in ensuring that all norms are followed and implemented strictly.
Extensive tests by the Cellular Operators Association and the DoT have found that Goa needs at least 102 tower sites to achieve the objective of high grade seamless mobile connectivity ahead of the BRICS Summit.