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Following a Supreme Court order, state-owned telecom major BSNL has deactivated its mobile tower in the Dal Bazar area here. "We have already deactivated the tower in compliance with the apex court's order of March 30," Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's Gwalior region general manager M S Dhakad told PTI. The bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha had directed BSNL to deactivate the tower in seven days.

The Supreme Court's direction came on a petition filed by Harish Chand Tiwari (42) who alleged that he contracted cancer because of electromagnetic radiation from the tower. Tiwari, who works as a domestic help in a house in Dal Bazar area, contended that the tower was illegally installed on the rooftop of neighbouring house in 2002. This came right after trying to allay fears about the mobile tower emissions, the telecom industry body Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) on Wednesday appealed to the public “not to panic” about the Supreme Court order on tower radiation.

“For the telecom industry consumer health and interest are paramount. The industry appeals to the citizens and the public to not panic and read the interim order in its entirety. There are four EMF related cases which have been clubbed together. The interim SC order relates to only one of them whereas cell towers included in the other cases were left untouched,” said Rajan S. Mathews, Director General of COAI.

With inputs from IANS