Mumbai:
Around 200 mobile towers sitting pretty on the terrace of several Ulhasnagar buildings, posing health hazards to lakhs of residents, are illegal, but the UMC authorities can do little to remove these dangerous frames. The civic body officials are pleading helplessness in removing these towers as the body lacks power to take action against the offenders. "The civic body has not given permission to a single tower situated in Ulhasnagar, so all the towers installed in the area are illegal," said UMC's health department official S Pawar.
Hardeep Gill, a resident of Guru Gobind Singh Apartment that has an illegal tower perched on his rooftop, said they have been requesting the UMC officials to remove the tower, which was causing health hazards to people and shortening the life span of the building as well.
According to Prem Jha, an RTI official in Ulhasnagar, "If these mobile towers were granted permission as per the rule, the UMC coffers would have been filled from the crores of rupees collected from the service providers. Instead, several UMC officials and local public representatives conniving with the companies are pocketing the amount now."
Asked why the illegal towers have not been removed yet and no action taken against the offenders, Ashok Kumar Rankhamb, the UMC commissioner, said, "We don't want the people and the service providers to face problems, hence we aren't taking any action. We have sent a letter to the High Court on April 20 seeking orders to demolish these illegal towers. We are waiting for the reply. As and when we get the order, we will take action immediately."
According to sources, the UMC officials pocket around Rs 2 lakh from each tower. But Dipak More, UMC officer of camp 4, rejected the claim outright. "There is no nexus working here. Those who are spreading the rumours must be the ones pocketing the bribe, if at all it is there," he said. Asked where the money earned from these towers goes, the UMC commissioner retorted, "We have no clue where it goes," and walked out of his office in a huff.
Assistant UMC commissioner Vinod Dawre, who presented a list of 200 illegal mobile towers in Ulhasnagar, said, "We know all of these are illegal, but we don't have the authority to take any action against the offenders."
Concerned about the health hazards caused by the mobile towers, residents are up in arms and want these towers removed at the earliest.
Smith Khaneja, an architect and resident of Shiv Shakti Apartment that has an illegal mobile tower, said, "You cannot do much if there is already a mobile tower on the roof of your own apartment or a nearby building, except getting the building assessed by an engineer for safety. And in case it is found that the building is not capable of taking the load of the telecommunication towers, the structures should be relocated immediately to safeguard the lives of people. Before the installation of a mobile tower on your roof top, make sure that the required safety measures have been taken."
Manoj Desade, a Reliance service provider in Ulhasnagar, said, "We have papers showing our towers are legal. We have been operating these towers for around seven years. Nobody complained all these years. I don't know what the society and UMC people want but we won't allow them to dismantle the towers just like that."