Karnataka Govt. Bans Mobile Towers Within 50 Meters Of Schools And Hospitals

Karnataka, in a first of its kind move, has brought into effect a Telecommunication Infrastructure Towers Regulations 2019 to regulate the mushrooming of mobile towers in the state.

Announcing this, urban development department minister U T Khader said the government had for long been considering such a law, which will extend across Karnataka to avoid the hazards of mobile towers mushrooming in the state. “As part of this effort, the government has brought these new regulations into effect as of May 29,” said Khader.

Under the new regulations, all mobile towers besides schools, religious buildings, hospitals and other prescribed buildings by the government in the state will have to be moved by at least 50 meters, six meters from the river boundaries, five meters from boundaries of lakes or tanks which are more than 10 hectares in size, three meters from boundaries of lakes and tanks less than 10 hectares and five meters from defined boundaries of canal, nala, storm water drains of width more than 10 meters.

Mobile towers in residential areas will now require a minimum of three meters of buffer zones all around and will have to be stationed only empty lands.

If there are no empty lands then the towers will have to be shifted on rooftops of the buildings with a distance of three meters all around the edges of the building.

The regulations also seek a “protective wall” around the towers which are erected on the ground which will have a distance of one meter from the tower and also have a height of 1.2 meters.

“Now, all new mobile towers will have to conform to these new regulations while those existing mobile towers will have to be shifted if they are found in violation. For this purpose of shifting, a period of three months will be provided for the telecom companies to shift the towers, failing which action will be initiated against them,” said the minister.

The new regulations also prescribes a set amount of fee and stringent licensing procedures which need to be followed while erecting the towers.

While the new towers will require telecom companies to pay a one time fee of Rs one lakh in BBMP for each tower, city corporations other than BBMP the fee is Rs 50,000.

Online building approvals in ULBs

The state government has said it will be issuing building approvals online, henceforth, in all urban local bodies (ULBs). Urban development department minister UT Khader on Monday said the government will launch automated building plan approvals for all ULBs including 10 municipal corporations, apart from Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

For Bengaluru, the city corporation had launched an automated building plan approval system (ABPS) but is under scrutiny due to technical problems.

Khader on Monday said the automatic approvals will be provided for all buildings, including layout formations in the ULBs from June 11 when CM H D Kumaraswamy will launch it.

“For 30×40 and 30×50 sites, people can self-certify their building plans and submit documents online. This will entail they will get instant approvals,” said Khader.―Times of India