On Wednesday the Peshawar High Court directed the provincial Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the removal of 20 mobile phone base transceiver stations (BTS) from the provincial capital’s densely-populated areas within a month as they are affecting the health of the people.
A bench consisting of Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Abdul Shakoor Khan notified the EPA director general Dr Mohammad Bashir to forward the notice to the relevant cellular phone companies for the removal of these mobile towers.
The court has issued the directive following the hearing of a petition that was filed by resident Mohammad Naeem, who claimed that the establishment of BTS had adversely impacted on human health.
In the petition he had requested the court to order the respondents, including Pakistan telecommunication Authority, KP EPA, provincial government through environment secretary and heads of cellular phone companies, to ensure that BTS and microwave antennas aren’t installed around schools, hospitals, parks and populated residential areas.
Furthermore, he had sought for the relevant respondents to protect people from environmental pollution caused by BTS through the implementation of zoning laws made for environmental protection. He had also requested the court to order implementation of international conventions and policies for the protection of the environment from the radiations emitted by BTS and microwave antennas.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority assistant director (legal) Jawad Akhtar, additional advocate general Syed Sikandar Shah and counsel for the cellular phone companies Farooq Afridi and Mohammad Babar had also appeared before the bench.
According to a report submitted by Dr. Bashir EPA examined 366 BTS and found that 20 to be violating international standards for being located within 24 feet or eight meters distance from the population and emitting hazardous radiations.
He further stated that 195 of the mobile towers were installed in residential areas, including 46 near schools and 55 near mosques and that they didn’t pose ‘that much of a threat to human health according to a research conducted by the International Radiation Council.
The EPA chief also stated that most mobile towers were installed in residential areas before 2009, when the cellular phone companies weren’t required to get no objection certificate.
At the hearing the lawyer of the petitioner Noor Alam Khan said that the mobile towers are installed on plaza rooftops and other places across the province, especially in Peshawar. He claimed that these towers pose health hazards as they emit microwaves at frequency of 1900 megahertz adversely affecting every biological organism within one square kilometer that cause several health hazards such as headache, cardiovascular stress, memory loss, miscarriages, cancer, low sperm count and disturbance of the nervous system.
