Residents Oppose Cellphone Tower Coming Up At Cheranmanagar

Residents of Cheranmanagar are up in arms against a cellphone tower coming up in their area. They say the radiation emitted by the tower could pose health hazards. They say they were not consulted by the telecom company or the property owner before starting work on erecting the tower. The residents have petitioned the district collector and corporate commissioner asking for details regarding the permission given to the company and demanded that work be stopped.

Around 70 residents from Sesi West Extension in the area have signed and submitted a petition to the district administration and Coimbatore Corporation stating that a private telecom company was erecting a tower in their area.

“The tower is being set up in the block next to our house,” Arun Balaji, one of the petitioners, said. “It is being set up by Jio Infocomm. We saw their staff bringing material during the weekend,” he added. “The house owner’s son on Monday also confessed that the cellphone tower is coming up on their property,” he said.

Residents say that they were not informed or consulted about the cellphone tower coming up in their vicinity. “Neither the company nor the house owner bothered to inform us, consult or get our consent,” Balaji said. The petition said there are at least 70 houses in the 100m radius because it is primarily a residential area. “We have a lot of old people, pregnant women and children and there is a lot of debate on these companies not following radio frequency limits. We can’t keep checking their radio frequency status. People say it could cause cancer and even be dangerous to children and fetus,” he added. “Why should we risk a health hazard?”.

The residents have also demanded to know if the corporation or district administration have issued the company or residents permissions or no objection certificates of any sort and if yes for it to be revoked immediately.―Times of India