Despite a court order to deseal cellphone towers within 24 hours, Noida authorities are yet to fix the problem. Call drops, poor connectivity persists
Despite a court order to deseal cellphone towers within 24 hours, Noida authorities are yet to fix the problem. Call drops, poor connectivity persistsInconvenience has always been the dictum of government authorities.
So what if the mobile users in Noida are still complaining about the poor signal, despite Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court ordering Uttar Pradesh government and the Noida Development Authority to deseal the mobile towers within 24 hrs. Nothing seems to budge them.
In Sector 62, Manu Shah, an engineer, has been struggling with the network past one week.
"There is just no respite from this problem. It's been more than a week now and the situation persists. I feel handicapped without the proper connection," he said.
"I have a Vodafone connection and every one is complaining that my mobile is out of reach.u00a0 Even I am not able to make a call. I am shocked that even after the HC order, Noida authority is not complying the order," said law student Sudakshina Rathor, a resident of Sector 32.
Though the neighbouring city Delhi will have respite. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Tuesday passed a new policy for erecting cell phone towers in the city, and said no tower would be allowed in residential area unless there is an alternative. Also, one-month time is being given to the service operators who have erected cell phone towers without permission to apply for regularisation.
According to the MCD, the national capital has around 2,500 illegal towers that give access to various telecommunication service providers. For 900 towers, notice has been served but for the rest, permission by the corporation is awaited. The MCD sub-committee recommended that least priority should be given to cell phone towers on residential buildings and in-group housing societies.
"In case of residential buildings, it shall be certified that no other alternative is available with the service provider. For group housing residential building, an NOC (no objection certificate) from all the occupants of the housing block along with the NOC of the society would be required," the recommendations said.
To get a no objection certificate for a cell tower, the telecom providers will require "a recommendation letter by COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) to the fact that the proposed tower is essentially required at the site as the nearest tower of this company is existing at a distance and no sharing of tower with other company is available". The sub-committee recommended that towers "shall only be permitted on regularized buildings and the service provider company shall provide third-party insurance".
A fee of Rs 5,00,000 would be charged per tower, and Rs 1,00,000 per service provider in case different companies are sharing a tower. Towers that are more than five years old will also require a renewal within a month.
The committee also observed that cell phone towers are damaging the city's skyline and crowding it.
u00a0"In foreign countries, no such mobile towers are visible as they are using the latest technology. Since communication is an essential requirement of the society, the existing mobile towers cannot be demolished or sealed immediately," the statement added.
