Lok Sabha Question No. 4227 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-28
Subject: Impact of Communication Towers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: POONAM  MAHAJAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4227

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2017

## Impact of Communication Towers

## 4227.     SHRIMATI POONAM MAHAJAN:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  any  expert  committee  has  been  constitued  by  the  Government  to  study  the possible impact of communication towers on wildlife including birds and bees;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the recommendations made by the Expert Committee;
- (c) whether  the  recommendations  of  the  Expert  Committee  have  been  implemented  to minimise the harmful effects of Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) radiation on birds, bees, insects and other wild animals; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

- (a) and (b) The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change had  constituted  an 'Expert Committee to study the possible impacts of communication towers on wildlife including Birds and Bees' on 30 th August 2010 under the chairmanship of Dr. Asad Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society. The 'Expert Committee  submitted  its  report  to  the  Ministry  in  September  2011.  The important recommendations of the Expert Committee are at Annexure-1 .
- (c) and (d) The Ministry has issued an advisory on use of Mobile Towers to minimize their impact on wildlife including birds and bees vide Office Memorandum dated 9 th August 2012. The contents of the advisory are given in the Annexure-2. The advisory  has  been  circulated  by  the  Ministry  to  the  concerned  organizations including State  Environment and Forest Departments, and local bodies, Ministry  of  Panchayati  Raj  and  the  Department  of  Telecommunications,  for their information and requisite action.

## ANNEXURE-1

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) AND (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4227 REGARDING 'IMPACTS OF COMMUNICATION TOWERS' RAISED BY SHRIMATI POONAM MAHAJAN, DUE FOR REPLY OF 28.03.2017

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## Important Recommendations of the Expert Committee to study the possible impacts of communication towers on wildlife including Birds and Bees

- 1) EMF should be recognized as a pollutants/ regular auditing of EMF should be conducted in urban localities /educational /hospital /industrial /residential / recreational premises and around the protected areas and ecologically sensitive areas.
- 2) Introduce  a  law  for  protection  of  urban  flora  and  fauna  from  emerging  threats  like ERM/EMF as conservation issues in urban areas are different from forested or wildlife habitats.
- 3) Bold  signs  and  messages  on  the  dangers  of  Cell  phone  tower  and  radiation  which  is emitted from it are displayed in and around the structures where the towers are erected. Use visual daytime markers in areas of high diurnal raptor or waterfowl movements.
- 4) To  avoid  bird  hits,  security  lighting  for  on-ground  facilities  should  be  minimized  and point downwards or be down-shielded.
- 5) Independent  monitoring  of  radiation  levels  and  overall  health  of  the  community  and nature  surrounding  towers  is  necessary  to  identify  hazards  early.Access  to  tower  sites should be allowed for monitoring radiation levels and animal mortality, if any.
- 6) Procedure  for  removal  of  existing  problematic  mobile  towers  should  be  made  easy, particularly in and around protected area or urban parks and centres having wildlife.
- 7) Strictly control installation of mobile towers near wildlife protected areas, Important Bird Areas, Ramsar Sites, turtle breeding areas, bee colonies, zoos, etc up to a certain distance that should be studied before  deciding  and should also be practical. Ecological assessment / review of sites identified for installing towers before their installation also may be considered in wildlife / ecologically / conservational important areas.
- 8) The  locations  of  Cell  phone  towers  and  other  EMF  radiating  towers  along  with  their frequencies  should  be  made  available  on  public  domain.  This  can  be  at  city/  district/ village level. Location wise GIS mapping of all cell phone towers be done by DoT.  This information will help in monitoring the population of birds and bees in and around the mobile towers and also in and/or around wildlife protected areas.
- 9) Public consultation to be made mandatory before installation of cell phones towers in any area. The Forest Department should be consulted before installation of cell phone towers in  and  around  PAs  and  zoos.  The  distance  at  which  these  towers  should  be  installed should be studied case by case basis.
- 10) Awareness drive with high level of visibility in all forms of media and regional languages should be undertaken by the Government to make people aware about various norms in regard to cell phone towers and dangers from EMR. Such notices should be placed in all wildlife protected areas and in zoos.
- 11) To prevent overlapping high radiations fields, new towers should not be permitted within a radius of one kilometer of existing towers.
- 12) If  new towers must be built, construct them to be above 80 ft and below 199 ft. tall to avoid  the  requirement  for  aviation  safety  lighting.  Construct  unguyed  towers  with platforms that will accommodate possible future co-locations and build them at existing 'antenna  farms',  away  from  areas  of  high  migratory  bird  traffic,  wetlands  and  other known bird areas.

## ANNEXURE-2

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (b) AND (c) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4227 REGARDING 'IMPACTS OF COMMUNICATION TOWERS'  RAISED BY SHRIMATI POONAM MAHAJAN, DUE FOR REPLY OF 28.03.2017

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## Advisory on use of Mobile Towers in a way to minimize their impacts on Wildlife including Birds and Bees

An 'Expert  committee  to  Study  the  possible  Impacts  of  Communication  Towers  on Wildlife including Birds and Bees' was constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government  of  India  on  30 th August  2010.  The  report  of  the  expert  committee  has  been submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The review of the available scientific information by the Expert Committee in the report indicates that the Electro-Magnetic Radiations (EMR) interfere with the biological systems. On the  basis  of  the  report  of  the  Expert  Committee  and  subsequent  deliberations  with  the stakeholders,  a  list  of  actions  to  be  undertaken  by  various  agencies  involved  in  providing, regulating, and dealing in any other manner with, the EMR based services, has been prepared. Main objective of the listed actions is to avoid and mitigate the impacts of EMR. The Ministry of Environment and Forests accordingly requests the concerned Departments, State Governments, user agencies, and the public at large to take following actions:

## I. Ministry of Environment and Forests :

1. The  Electro  Magnetic  Radiations  from  the  communication  towers  may  have  varying negative impacts on wildlife especially birds and bees. Accordingly, the information on the impacts related to different forms of wildlife as well as humans, should be provided to the  concerned  agencies  for  regulating  the  norms  for  notification  of  standards  for  safe limits of EMR taking into consideration the impacts on living beings.

## II. State/Local Bodies:

1. Regular  auditing  and  monitoring  of  EMR  should  be  conducted  in  urban  localities/ educational/hospital/industrial/residential/recreational premises and especially around the Protected Areas (PAs) and ecologically sensitive areas w.r.t. notified norms of Department of Telecommunications. Problematic towers from EMR point of view should be got suitably relocated/removed.
2. Bold signs and messages on the dangers of cell phone towers and associated radiations are displayed in and around the structures of the towers. In addition to these signs, use of visual daytime markers in areas of high diurnal raptor or waterfowl movements, should also be promoted.
3. Before  according  permission  for  construction  of  towers,  ecological  impact  assessment and review of installation sites will be essential in wildlife and/or ecologically important areas. The Forest Department should be consulted before installation of cell phone towers in and around PAs and zoos.

## III. State Environment and Forest Departments:

1. Regular awareness drive with high level of visibility through all forms of media, and in regional  languages  should  be  undertaken  by  the  State  Governments  and  concerned Departments to make people aware about various norms and standards with regard to cell phone towers and dangers of EMR from the same. Such notices should also be placed in all wildlife protected areas and zoos by the Forest Department.

## IV. Department of Telecommunications:

1. To  prevent  overlapping  of  high  radiation  fields,  new  towers  should  not  be  permitted within a radius of one kilometre of the existing towers. Sharing of passive infrastructure if  made  mandatory  for  Telecom  Service  Providers  can  minimize  need  of  having additional towers. If new towers must be built, these should be constructed with utmost care and precautions so as not to obstruct flight path of birds, and also not to increase the combined radiations from all towers in the area.
2. The  location  and  frequencies  of  cell  phone  towers  and  other  towers  emitting  EMR, should  be  made available  in  public  domain.  This  can  be  at  city/  district/  village  level. Location-wise GIS mapping of all cell phone towers should be maintained which would, inter alia, help in monitoring the population of birds and bees in and around the mobile towers and also in and/or around wildlife protected areas.
3. There is an urgent need to refine the Indian standard on safe limits of exposure to EMR, keeping in view the available literature on impacts on various life forms. Till such time the  Indian  standards  are  reformed,  a  precautionary  approach  shall  be  preferred  to minimize the exposure levels and adopt stricter norms possible, without compromising on optimum performance of the networks.

## V. All concerned agencies:

1. Security  lighting  for  on-ground  facilities  should  be  minimized,  and  as  far  as  possible, point downwards or be down-shielded to avoid bird hits.
2. Any study conducted on impact of EMF radiation on wildlife needs to be shared with Forest  Department  and  Department  of  Telecommunications  to  facilitate  appropriate policy formulations.

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