Shift cell towers out of city: MCD

To counter mushrooming cellphone towers, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has written to the telecommunications ministry requesting it to allow setting them up on the city’s periphery, reports Neelam Pandey.

To counter mushrooming cellphone towers, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has written to the telecommunications ministry requesting it to allow setting them up on the city’s periphery.

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These towers will be able to service the entire city.

If permitted, service providers would no longer have to set up individual towers on rooftops, as is the case now.

“A letter has been written to the ministry asking them to explore the possibility of setting up a few cellphone towers on the periphery. If permitted, we’ll be able to remove all the illegal/legal cell phone towers from the city but consumers won’t be affected by it,” said MCD commissioner K.S. Mehra.

According to the civic agency, one such tower at Pitampura serves the entire area.

More than half of the city’s towers are illegal. The MCD has sent show cause notices to the cellular service providers with illegal towers. After their replies are received, the civic agency plans to demolish all such towers.

The MCD has formulated a new policy for setting up cellphone towers, which will be tabled in its standing committee on Wednesday.