Cell phone tower radiation 'caused' cancer, Supreme Court orders removal of mobile tower in Gwalior

Correspondent

NewsBits.in

BHOPAL/GWALIOR/DELHI: In a major decision, the Supreme Court has ordered shifting of a cell phone tower on a cancer patient's plea.

The victim, Harish Tiwari, had approached the Apex court, claiming that exposure to mobile tower's radiation caused him cancer.

Tiwari, 42, who lives in a house in Dal Bazar in Gwalior, said that the particular tower is installed on a roof in his neighbourhood.

Tiwari says that he has been keeping ill for several years. He and his landlord, Anil Sharma, tried hard to get the BSNL tower removed. Now, after the order, the tower's connection was severed and it is now being removed. 

It was in 2013, that the doctors told Tiwari that he had cancer. Tiwari works and lives in the house of Anil Sharma. Sharma had objected to tower in the adjoning building said that earlier his father had also opposed the installation.

But BSNL manager and the neighbour claimed that the agreement had been finalised for three years and after the period, it would be removed but this didn't happen. The tower remained functional and wasn't removed.

Sharma's mother also died because of cancer. Later, the family took the matter to Supreme court. Sharma's wife Advocate Nivedita Sharma took the case to the SC. The Apex court has now ordered that the tower be removed.

The bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and Naveen Sinha directed authorities to shift the tower within seven days. There have been voices against cell phone towers in residential areas, especially, on the roof of buildings and fears of the radiation emitted by them. 

Environmentalists have maintained that the number of crows and sparrows has declined considerable due to the radiation and it has also been causing ailments to the human beings.

However, the cell phone companies have been refuting these charges. Now, the latest Supreme Court judgement is all set to restart the debate about impact of cell phone raditions on human lives.

Telecom companies say that there are 12 lakh cell phone towers in the country and out of them barely 3.3 lakh have been tested for the radition level. A few that were tested and were found to have higher and dangerous levels of radiation were fined.