Come Saturday and cell phones in city may stop ringing, if the Nagpur Municipal Corporation continues its tough stand against over 524
cell phone towers erected by cellular companies on various buildings without permission of the civic body. The unauthorised mobile towers are not only posing threat to the structures but also resulting in revenue losses of over Rs 4.5 crore annually to the civic body.
Taking cognizance of the TOI report ‘Over 400 illegal mobile towers in city’ and high court directives, additional deputy municipal commissioner Ajay Ramteke convened a meeting of civic officials and representatives of telecom companies on Tuesday to resolve the problem of unauthorized phone towers.
Ramteke said NMC gave the companies up to 5pm of September 18 to submit all the relevant documents required for erecting the mobile towers in NMC or NIT jurisdiction along with proof of NMC’s temporary permission fees (for period of 3-years) amounting to Rs 1 lakh with deposit fees of Rs 50,000 for showing the legality of mobile towers they have erected in city.
In addition, the towers will be declared illegal if the companies failed to submit a report about “structural stability” of the building on which the towers were erected or had not installed red warning beacon atop the towers, or the building was not of stipulated height. NMC will start taking action against illegal towers from Saturday onwards by disconnecting their power or sealing them. “This may result in network breakdown in many areas after Friday,” Ramteke added.