Lok Sabha Question No. 2522 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-30
Subject: EMF Emission from Towers
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL, DUSHYANT CHAUTALA, PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE, NANABHAU FALGUNRAO PATOLE, PONNUSAMY VENUGOPAL, Shrirang Appa Barne, VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, SUKENDER REDDY GUTHA, Y. S. AVINASH REDDY, MEENAKASHI LEKHI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2522 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30 TH  NOVEMBER, 2016

## EMF EMISSION FROM TOWERS

2522.   SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO:

SHRI DUSHYANT CHAUTALA:

DR. PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE: SHRI NANA PATOLE: DR. P. VENUGOPAL: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT: SHRI GUTHA SUKENDER REDDY: SHRI Y.S. AVINASH REDDY: SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of studies conducted on the impact of mobile radiation on human  beings and other living beings along with the outcome of such studies;
- (b) the permissible limit of Electromagnetic Field (EMF) emission from mobile towers and mobile handsets in the country vis a vis other developed countries;
- (c) whether telecom operators have been found violating the EMF emission norms and some the towers are found to be illegally set up;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  against the  erring operators, operator-wise;
- (e) whether the mobile towers are emitting eight times higher radiation as compared to widely agreed global norms as per the study by a top institution; and
- (f) if  so,  the  reaction  of  the  Union  Government  thereon  and  the  action  taken  by  the Government to minimise the radiation emission from mobile towers and the mobile handsets to minimise the health risk?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) Madam, with regard to impact of Electromagnetic Field (EMF) emissions from mobile towers  on  health,  World  Health  Organization  (WHO)  has  referred  to  approximately  25,000 articles published around the world over past 30 years, and based on an in-depth review of scientific literature, has stated, 'Despite the feeling of some people that more research needs to be done, scientific knowledge in this area is now more extensive than for most chemicals.' WHO  has  concluded  -  'current  evidence  does  not  confirm  the  existence  of  any  health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields'.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), setup in 2010 to examine the effect of Electro Magnetic  Field  (EMF)  Radiation  from  base  stations  and  mobile  phones,  after  examining various national and international studies on the environmental and health related concerns due to EMF, had, inter-alia, indicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health.

(b) Based  on  the  recommendations  of  IMC,  Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT) had  made  the  norms  for  exposure  limit  for  the  Radio  Frequency  Field  (Base  Station Emissions)  ten  times  more  stringent  by  reducing  them  to  1/10 th of  the  existing  limits prescribed by International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by WHO. Presently the limits for EMF radiations from Base Station in India are as below:

| Frequency Range   | E-Field Strength ( Volt/Meter)   | H-Field Strength (Amp/Meter)   | Power Density (Watt/Sq.Meter)   |
|-------------------|----------------------------------|--------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| 400MHz to 2000MHz | 0.434f ½                         | 0.0011f ½                      | f/2000                          |
| 2GHz to 300GHz    | 19.29                            | 0.05                           | 1                               |

(f = frequency in MHz)

Based on the recommendations of IMC, the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) level for Mobile Handsets were also revised to 1.6 Watt per Kg averaged over a mass of one gram human tissue.

These limits were again reviewed in 2014 by a committee that was setup at the behest of  Hon'ble  High  Court  Allahabad,  Lucknow  bench.  The  Committee  comprised  of  members from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) Kharagpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Roorkee, Bombay and from other scientific institutions of the country including Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)  and  All  India  Institute  of  Medical  Science  (AIIMS)  Delhi.  This  Committee  has  also referred to various studies carried out in this regard and has observed that the Department of Telecom has taken adequate steps to impose stricter precautionary limits for EMF radiation from mobile towers as well as from mobile handset/phones.

After  due consideration of the  human health concerns on account of EMF radiation being raised in public and the Report of the Committee, the Government  decided in 2014 that the present prescribed precautionary EMF safe exposure limits were adequate and need no further change at this stage.

(c) & (d) As on 30.09.2016,  221 number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) installed on  various  mobile  towers  have  been  found  exceeding  the  prescribed  EMF  radiation  limits. Telecom Service Provider(TSP) wise details of these BTSs is attached at Annexure-I. The details of financial penalty that has  been imposed on defaulting TSPs as per the prescribed DoT guidelines for the non-compliant BTSs is also provided  in Annexure-I.

(e) No.  Out  of  3,42,819  BTSs  at  mobile  towers  that  have  been  inspected  by  Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring (TERM) field units of DoT, only 221 have been found to exceed the prescribed EMF emission norms.

(f) EMF radiation norms from  mobile towers in our country, which are below the safe limits  prescribed  by  ICNIRP  and  recommended  by  WHO,  have  no  convincing  scientific evidence of causing adverse health effects. Department of Telecommunications has already prescribed  stricter  precautionary  norms  for  exposure  limit  for  EMF  emissions  from  mobile tower  and  mobile  handsets.  Further,  Government  of  India  has  laid  down  a  procedure    to ensure that Telecommunications Service Providers strictly adhere to the prescribed norms for mobile  towers.  All  new  BTS  sites  start  radiating  only  after  the    certificate,  that  the  BTS  is compliant with prescribed EMF norms, has been submitted to relevant TERM Cells. In order to  ensure  compliance to  the  prescribed  stricter precautionary  norms  of EMF  radiation from mobile tower, the extensive audit of compliance of certificates, submitted by telecom service providers and BTS sites, is carried out by TERM field units of DoT. In case, any BTS site is found to violate the prescribed EMF norms, actions are taken to put a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh per  BTS  per  incidence  including  closing  of  BTS  site  as  per  the  prescribed  procedure. Additionally, the BTS sites against which there are public complaints are also tested by TERM Cell.

Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2522 regarding  "EMF Emissions from Towers" for 30.11.2016.

Number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) found exceeding prescribed EMF Norms and Penalty imposed.

| Sl. No.   | Telecom Service Provider   |   No. of BTS found exceeding prescribed EMF radiation limits (as on 30.09.2016) | Amount of penalty imposed on account of violation of radiation norms (as on 30.09.2016) in Rupees.   |
|-----------|----------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Aircel/Dishnet             |                                                                              15 | 90,00,000                                                                                            |
| 2         | Airtel/BHL                 |                                                                              52 | 2,15,06,855                                                                                          |
| 3         | BSNL                       |                                                                               8 | 70,00,000                                                                                            |
| 4         | Etisalat/Allianz           |                                                                               0 | 0                                                                                                    |
| 5         | IDEA/ABTL/SPICE            |                                                                              17 | 95,06,855                                                                                            |
| 6         | Loop                       |                                                                              11 | 55,00,000                                                                                            |
| 7         | MTNL                       |                                                                               3 | 15,00,000                                                                                            |
| 8         | QTL/HFCL                   |                                                                               0 | 0                                                                                                    |
| 9         | Reliance                   |                                                                              30 | 1,65,00,000                                                                                          |
| 10        | Reliance Jio               |                                                                               2 | 0                                                                                                    |
| 11        | SSTL (MTS)                 |                                                                               1 | 5,00,000                                                                                             |
| 12        | STEL                       |                                                                               0 | 0                                                                                                    |
| 13        | Tikona                     |                                                                               0 | 0                                                                                                    |
| 14        | TTSL/TTML/Tata             |                                                                              30 | 1,45,13,709                                                                                          |
| 15        | Videocon                   |                                                                               2 | 10,00,000                                                                                            |
| 16        | Vodafone                   |                                                                              43 | 1,80,06,855                                                                                          |
| 17        | Telenor/Telewings/Uninor   |                                                                               7 | 35,00,000                                                                                            |
| 18        | Augere                     |                                                                               0 | 0                                                                                                    |
|           | Grand Total                |                                                                             221 | 10,80,34,274                                                                                         |

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