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CHENNAI: Is radiation from a mobile tower near you a source of persistent anxiety? If it is, not to worry , you're not being paranoid.

In a reply to an RTI query, the department of telecommunication (DoT) has admitted that it monitors only 10% of the city's 36,442 mobile towers every year to ensure that radiation levels are within levels safe for human exposure.

The reply did not reveal the reason for DoT monitoring just 10% of all mobile towers.

Sources in DoT said shortage of manpower in the depart ment's Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring Cells do not permit them to conduct more exhaustive tests. “We don't have enough staff to perform these tests, “ an official said. In the RTI query , Madras high court lawyer K Karthi keyan of Kodambakkam also asked telecommunication officials for the number of mobile towers in the city.

Stating that the city has 36,442 mobile towers, chief public information officer and director of DoT TERM cell, Chennai, D Thamizhmani said, “DDG [offices of deputy directors general] of TERM cells of the areas concerned are the competent authorities to receive complaints of excessive emission of radio frequency radiation from base transceiver stations (BTS).“

On its official website, DoT says electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure limits from base station (mobile tower) emissions is 110th of the existing International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) exposure levels.

“India now has one of the most stringent EMF exposure norms in the world,“ the DoT website says. DoT official Thamizhmani said the department may levy a penalty of `10 lakh per BTS [base transceiver station] per service provider who does not conform to norms and does not resolve the issue within 30 days.

He did not mention, however, how many service providers in Chennai DoT had penalised.

Responding to another query about the number of radiation emission testing and certifying labs and research stations in India including Tamil Nadu, the official replied that he did not have those figures. But he said the office carries out tests on 10% of BTS in the jurisdiction of the Chennai TERM Cell area, as per guidelines of the Telecom Engineering Centre .

Officials say exposure to radio frequency fields from mobile phones is generally 1,000 times higher than from mobile towers. In India, handsets that emit radiation in excess of a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1.6wattkilo.

Airtel has 9,607 mobile towers in Chennai, the most among all mobile telephone service providers. Vodafone (7,768) is second and Reliance Jio (6,190) third.

