Mumbai: A Sion resident has moved the Bombay high court to challenge the installation of mobile towers on the roof of his seventh-floor flat.

Pradip Shinde (32), a resident of Chaitanya Housing Society Ltd, has expressed fears that there is a serious threat to his and his family
members’ life and health from the radiation emitted by mobile towers. A division bench of Justice F I Rebello and Justice R V More has scheduled Shinde’s application for interim relief on June 28.

Essar Telecom Infrastructure, represented by D H Law Associates, has refuted the allegations of a radiation risk. “The apprehension about radiation and possible health hazard is unfounded in as much as the department of telecommunications, government of India, has categorically reported that at present, there is no conclusive evidence to that effect to warrant any further investigation,’’ the company said in an affidavit.

Shinde approached the HC after the firm started installing the mobile phone tower. According to Shinde, there were two towers on the terrace and one of the signal receivers was attached to the side walls of his bedroom.

The petitioner claimed that the walls of his flat were in a bad condition, with leakages every monsoon. He also raised questions about the safety of such towers. “The consequences or after-effects of radiation from the mobile towers and allied machinery are not known,’’ said Shinde. He added that he had contacted various persons who had suffered on account of such radiation due to installation of mobile towers in their vicinity. In his application for interim relief, he has urged the court to order the company to stop the functioning of the towers.

Mhada, which constructed the building, was represented by assistant government pleader G W Mattos. The firm has denied the claims and pointed to the findings of a two-member panel which in its report in 2006, had said that there was not enough evidence to show direct health hazards of radiation exposure from mobile base stations.

Residents in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh are demanding the demolition of a mobile phone tower in the residential area, alleging that electromagnetic radiation from it poses a threat to their lives.

Shubash Kapoor, a resident of BC Block in Shalimar Bagh (East), told IANS that an Idea Cellular tower has been erected on the terrace of the third floor apartment where he lives as a tenant, with the permission of the landlord.

Read more: Delhi Residents Under Radiation Threat from Mobile Tower 
As telecom  giants pay huge rents, house owners allow them to set up mobile phone  towers. "Why can't they look at other alternatives for revenue? Why are they playing with the lives of residents?" Kapoor asked.

Sudha Sharma, an angry resident, said: "Why don't they (mobile network companies) understand residents' problems? We have to suffer because of mobile towers."

"For over two years since the erection of the mobile tower, we have been suffering health problems like headache, fatigue and vomiting because of radiation. My six-year-old son is the worst-hit," she claimed.

"My doctor has confirmed these health issues are linked to radiation from the mobile tower," she added.

Sharma said their neighbour was suffering from cancer in the spinal cord, while another resident had complained of heart ailments.

According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi has over 5,000 mobile phone towers, of which 2,500 are illegally erected. Shockingly, most of these are in residential areas.

The MCD has threatened to seal illegal mobile phone towers because of possible health hazards. The Delhi High Court, which had earlier ordered the formation of a panel to study the health risks caused by mobile phone towers, put a stay on it and issued notice to the cellular operators association to file their responses by July 8.

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Two Tower on Single roof after just 1st. floor.