LSA organizes Awareness Workshop on EMF Emissions and Telecom Towers in Gurugram

An awareness programme was organized by Delhi Licensed Service Area (LSA) of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications in association with Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Emissions and Mobile Towers at MCG Community Centre, Sector 45 in Gurugram. This is a part of a nationwide public outreach campaign to dispel myths about EMF emissions and mitigate unfounded fears of citizens through scientific evidence.

Shri Sudhir Chauhan, Senior Town Planner, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG); Shri Arjun Singh, Deputy Director General (Technology), o/o Advisor (Telecom), DoT, Delhi LSA; and Dr T.K. Joshi, Advisor to Health Ministry, Government of India, graced the occasion as speakers on the dais. An expert panel comprising of telecom officers and doctors presented the scientific facts clarifying various myths on perceived health hazards from mobile tower radiation. Shri R.K. Singh, Chief Town Planner, MCG; Shri Sunil Bhadu, Director, Delhi LSA, DoT; Shri Manoj Kumar, Director (R), Delhi LSA, DoT; and Shri Raj Kumar, Director (A), Delhi LSA, DoT, also graced the occasion.

Delivering the technical address, Shri Arjun Singh, DDG (Technology), o/o Advisor (Telecom), DoT, Delhi LSA, elaborated on a tower’s technical requirement for proper coverage in a city. He said that there was no scientific evidence backing the claim that EMF radiation from mobile towers, which are below the safe limits prescribed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), can cause adverse health effects. He stressed upon the need of installation of the required number of towers in various localities for best wireless connectivity and Quality of Service (QoS).

Speaking on the same, Dr T.K. Joshi, Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Government of India, referred to the EMF Project established by WHO, in which over 50 national authorities and 8 international organizations are involved. Despite extensive research, to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health.

The DoT has already prescribed strict precautionary norms for exposure limit for the Radio Frequency Field (Base Station Emissions) which is ten times more stringent than the existing limits prescribed by ICNIRP and recommended by WHO. “Our EMF norms are much stricter than what is followed by many developed nations. Further, the Government of India has taken adequate steps to ensure that Telecommunications Service Providers strictly adhere to these prescribed norms,” Dr T.K. Joshi added.

The level of emission near MCG Community Centre, Sector 45, Gurugram was 0.00365 watts, and the result was shared with the people present at the sites, stating that the tower is safe, substantiated by the low levels of radiation, that showed up in the tests. The level of EMF emissions is as under: