Thursday, February 4, 2010

Fw: 60 people battle giants


Fw: 60 people battle giants
60 people battle giants
Thursday, January 01, 1970 5:30:00 AM
From:
"Nidhi Jamwal"
To:
"Manoj Shivram Londhe"

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20100215&filename=news&sid=29&page=1&sec_id=50

60 people battle giants
Rooftop radiation binds the Mobile Tower Grievance Forum

Rajil Menon
Banker, housewife, engineer, pujari. They came from all walks of life, from across Maharashtra, and met up for the first time in a public meeting at Mumbai's Shivaji Park. They exchanged notes, bonded, and vowed to work together. Each of the 60 people gathered under the Mobile Tower Grievance Forum had their own story to tell. They told stories of their battle against illegal installation of mobile towers, of money power, and of cancer, brain tumour, skin rashes and insomnia caused by the towers erected atop apartment buildings. The narrations cemented the group and the meeting culminated in an action plan that included selecting a 10-doctor team to document the impact of radiation from towers on people’s health. When the meeting started at 10.30 am on December 13 last year, the dilemma was palpable. Stray comments could be heard saying towers are needed to transmit the signals from cell phones.
But as the discussion progressed, the ambiguities evaporated because many speakers said the law was clear: before installing mobile towers near residential areas, companies have to get a no-objection certificate from the residents’ cooperative society and permission from the municipal corporation and the pollution control board. There should be a gap of 36 metres from human habitation, the law stipulated.

With the law on his side, S S Londhe, 78 and retired from service , is waging a lone battle; no one in his building talks to him and his family from the time he thwarted installation of a mobile tower in his building. “When we try to reason with them we are told to go and buy a flat elsewhere,” Londhe said.

The law does not help much, he added. “Companies first erect the mobile towers and then get them regularized by paying the municipality a fine of Rs 5,000,” Londhe said. If a survey were to be carried out, Londhe was certain, it would show most mobile towers are illegal.
The Londhes live on the top floor of the seven-storey Clement Court in Mumbai’s Dadar West. In late 2008, a mobile phone company approached the housing society for installation of a tower on top of the building and offered Rs 3.5 lakh a year as rent. In April 2009, during the housing society meeting, the Londhes opposed the tower. They were the only family to do so; all others were in favour of the tower, and the rent money. When Londhe showed them write-ups on radiation from towers, they laughed it off as “internet crap”.

On June 6, last year, by way of the majority, the society cleared the proposal to install a tower. Construction material was offloaded at the site on June 19. “But we were adamant,” Londhe said. “My son and I filed complaints with the municipal corporation. We also filed right to information (RTI) applications to know how the authorities sanctioned the tower. I also filed police complaints.” Construction has been stalled for now. “But it has not been cancelled yet,” he added. “Sometimes my son has to leave work at office and rush home to ensure the construction work does not begin illegally.” All this has paid off to the extent that in December, the company took back the construction material.

Listening to Londhe speak Vijaya Bhat, who came to the meeting with her husband Rajesh Bhat, commented she did not even get a chance to oppose the mobile tower in her building. When the residents moved in, they found the builder had already installed a mobile tower. The Bhats came from six-storey Riddhi Park building in Thakurli West, 50 km from Mumbai, to tell the story of Vijaya’s brain tumour which they suspect is linked to radiation from the tower. Rajesh is a Hindu priest and his wife Vijaya a homemaker. “Within four months of occupying the top floor flat, I began to fall sick.
Tests showed I had brain tumour,” said Vijaya Bhat, 33, addressing the gathering. She was operated last year at a cost of Rs 10 lakh.

The Bhats don’t live in their apartment any more; they have moved to a rented one. “My health is improving now. But even a day’s visit to the place I thought would be my home, makes me sick physically,” Vijaya said.

Her husband became agitated as Vijaya finished speaking and started hurling abuses at the government and at the politicians present at the meeting. “Do you understand the problems we common people have to face because of mobile towers? We have to suffer and die,” he burst out.

The Bhats are not the only ones suffering in the Riddhi Park complex. Rajesh said their neighbour is suffering from cancer of the spinal cord. Another neighbour gave birth to a child with birth defects; the child died soon after. He believes all this is linked to exposure to radiation from the mobile tower. “People are afraid of coming out and speaking openly against the tower,” Rajesh Bhat said.

All the 20-odd families residing in Riddhi Park are now demanding demolition of the mobile tower.

Laxmikant B Deshpande, telecom engineer, spoke next. He came from North Kasba in Solapur, 400 km away. He has been counting the deaths and listing their cause among people living within 300 feet (91.44 m) radius of a mobile tower. He found that in the last four years, nine people died since the installation of two towers (Vodafone and Idea) at North Kasba, near Tilak Chowk (see table). In Australia the price of the property goes down if there is a mobile tower in the vicinity, Deshpande told the forum.
The forum of people taking up cudgels against mobile towers is the brainchild of Milind Bembalkar, mechanical engineer who runs his own business in Latur, 750 km from Mumbai. He has been writing articles on the menace in Marathi newspapers and magazines for the past one year. When in one article Bembalkar asked readers affected by mobile towers to get in touch with him he was surprised to receive 300 letters. “I also received phone calls from all over Maharashtra expressing concern and helplessness. That was how the forum was born,” Bembalkar said.

Ramchandra G Pradhan, 83 years and a journalist, came to attend the meeting with plenty of reading material on the ill-effects of radiation from mobile towers. He resides in Thane district’s Bhavani Society. He erupted with skin rashes a year ago; these, he told the meeting, developed when a Bharati Airtel tower was installed atop his building. “We need to be aware of side-effects of radiation and then raise questions in the Assembly,” he said. Pradhan then lifted his shirt and showed the rashes all over his body, which he claimed, disappear when he stays away from his house. “My doctor has confirmed these rashes are linked to radiation from the mobile tower,” he added.

The forums’ first meeting ended with the release of a list of people who claimed they were suffering from sleep disorders, restlessness and fatigue since the time a mobile tower was installed on their building. They decided to first build a body of well documented case studies with doctors analyzing the cases; armed with facts on people’s suffering members said they would take the battle to its next stage.



For details see www.downtoearth.org.in

14 comments:

  1. HI
    My name is Rajesh Narayan and i would like to get in touch with your organisation.
    We are facing a similiar problem in my building.
    My email id is rajesh .naryan13@gmail .com
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello:

    Good to know you are working on this. I and Prof. Girish Kumar of I.I.T Bombay, India have been working on the same field and found that the radiation from Cell phones,Cell phone towers, TV and FM towers, Wi-fi, etc are harmful to the human body. And if precautions are not taken immediately, can lead to serious health hazards. We have prepared a report on 'Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation' which can be viewed at the following link: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3b9q8NJph9jZmUwYzIyN2QtZmNjNC00NThiLTgwMzEtMTM0Nzg3MGMwYmE2&hl=en There are about a million sites explaining the harmful effects of mobile radiation but no serious action has been taken till now. Moreover, India is adopting the worst radiation norms in the entire world. Studies have shown that within 300 meter radius of the tower these radiations are extremely harmful for the human health and in Indian there are several towers on top of a building itself. It is important that the telecom industry accepts the fact. Only then scientist all over the world will work to come up with solutions. If this continues, it will not be soon that the whole of the world, especially India gets completely cooked up and another disease adds up in line with the top mortality disease: AIDS, cancer, malaria etc - and it may soon be RADIATION HAZARDS FROM MOBILE TOWERS!!

    I also run a blog on cell phone radiation - http://neha-wilcom.blogspot.com/ . It may interest you. You can also write to me at - nehakumar01@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi

    My name is Govind kadkade and I would like to get in touch with your organisation.
    We are facing a similiar problem in my building.
    My email id is kadkade@rediffmail.com.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi my name is Mrs Parekh, and I would like to get in touch with your organisation . We are facing a similar problem in our building. There are 5 such towers (Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Tata & one more)in my 4 storeyed building at HajiAli. Half or the residents of the building were not aware of such towers being erected. None of the neighbours are concerned. I tried spreading awareness but in vain. Our landlord does not stay in the building so he is least bothered with our health. My building s approximately 70 years old and is not capable of taking the load of the towers. There is no security in our building and the technicians enter and leave at any time without our knowledge. ( it is a paghdi building- not ownership). We have 8 flats in our building and all our water tanks are right next to the towers.
    Please tell me who i can get help from - the police , bmc etc. I am very much concerned for the health of my family members.

    My email id is parekhsg@gmail.com

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Sir,

    My name is Ratanlal and i would like to get in touch with your organisation.

    We are facing a similiar problem in my building.

    Eversince the tower errection, it has caused severe headache and other problems to me and my family.

    My email id is ratanlal.agrawal@gmail.com

    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  6. hi, unfortunately the same is happenning in our building at sunrise, 4th pasta lane colaba. The bombay rent act has made us helpless, the LANDLORD can do what he likes while we all will suffer. tsdhansura@yahoo.co.in

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi,
    My name is DR.N.A.SHAHBAZKER, I am facing a problem with a mobile towet coming up on a 3 storey building facing my residence with an open terrace on the 4th. floor. The tower is merely 20-30ft. from my house. I want to stop it, I need help.
    my mail is service@shahbzker.com
    naz.sh@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. hi ,
    first congratulation for.. this organization.
    and I would like to get in touch with your organization . We are facing a similar problem in our building.
    my email i d rajuvodedra@rediffmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi,
    My name is NAZIM SHAHBAZKER, I need to get in touch with you and join your organisation. A mobile tower is coming up in a building adjacent to me at just 20 ft. from my residence. I stay on the 4th floor and the tower is being constructed on the terrace of a 3 storey building which is almost at my level.I need guidance and help to stop it.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Can this forum help to undertake legal steps in getting a Notice from the legal bench to stop the functioning of the Mobile towers already installed in residential area & on the rooftop of the building?.

    Much of this menace has been in Landlord & Tenants system wherein Landlord forcibly grants permission for Tower erection on the Old Building rooftops (with some Tenants acting as Hand in glove with landlord) & mints money from Mobile companies & poor Tenants who actually live in the bldg. have to face problems of Old Dissipated Building structure & harmful radiation.

    Request help from forums/association/legal practitioners so that legal & appropriate action can be take collectively. Can be contacted on mostmad@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Our cooperative society is also under discussion wheter
    to get anstalled a mobile antena?
    how can i stop them doing the same?
    how to convince them?
    is there any legal way to stop them?

    Thanks
    Amarnath
    amarzore@yahoo.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  12. hi ,
    I would like to get in touch with your organization. We are facing a similar problem in our building.
    my emailid is adv.mayur@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi, Our opposing society has set up mobile tower atop of their building and the generator has been put in their compound which is just 20ft away from our house window.The sound from generator is creating havoc and health problems. I want to get in touch with your organisation and help me to fight against it.
    Thanks,
    dannykapoor89@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. hi ,
    I would like to get in touch with your organization. We are facing a similar problem in our building.
    my emailid is pawarpravin50@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete