New Delhi, Aug 5 (PTI) The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Thursday asked its officials to identify illegal mobile towers in its area by August 31 and recover penalties from those telecom operators who have violated norms, civic officials said.

According to municipal officials, these directions were issued during a special House meeting called to deliberate on the issue of illegal mobile towers under the jurisdiction of SDMC.

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SDMC Mayor Mukesh Suryan said the issue of illegal mobile towers was brought to his notice a few weeks back by councillors as well as the general public. So a special House was convened to address issues related with it.

He said Thursday's deliberations also included suggestions from Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and other social groups about issues concerning radiation emerging from mobile towers and mushrooming of illegal mobile towers.

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"Illegal mobile towers will not be allowed to operate in SDMC jurisdiction. I have directed concerned officials to identify such towers by the end of the month and impose penalty against erring telecom companies," Suryan said.

"The penalty amount will be recovered in retrospective manner from violators," the Mayor said.

SDMC officials said the exercise will not only regulate installation and operation of mobile towers in the jurisdiction of the south corporation but also boost municipality's revenue.

"The civic body is going though fund crunch so imposing penalty on illegally running mobile towers will strengthen municipality's coffers. There is no exact data about illegal mobile towers operating in SDMC.

Officials of remunerative cell department have been tasked to identify illegal mobile towers by August 31 and impose penalty on violators. The department will also have to submit an action taken report later," a senior SDMC official, privy to the development, said.

Councillors who raised the issue of illegal mobile towers include Abhishek Dutt, Kailash Sankhla, Kiran Chopra, Ved Pal, Bhagat Singh Tokas among others.

Congress councillor from Andrews Ganj, Abhishek Dutt, said the mobile towers have been mushrooming unabated in the SDMC area.

He said in many cases mobile towers can be seen set up on green lands such as park, which is illegal.

"There are over 5,000 mobile towers operating in SDMC areas and many of them are illegal. Many are installed in parks and on residential buildings which is harmful. I demand that RWA of the respective area should be consulted before installation of mobile towers," Dutt said.

He also demanded that penalty should be imposed on illegally operating mobile towers.

SDMC officials said directions were also issued to circulate copies of policy regarding installation of mobile towers among councillors so that illegal installation of such towers can be stopped.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)