The government has imposed total penalty of 10.80 crore on telecom operators for exceeding prescribed electronic frequency (EMF) limits, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
According to the statement, the maximum penalty of Rs 2.15 crore was imposed on Bharti Airtel, followed by Rs 1.80 crore on Vodafone, Rs 1.65 crore on Reliance and Rs 1.45 crore on Tata Teleservices. A penalty of Rs 95 lakh was imposed on Idea, Rs 90 lakh on Aircel, Rs 70 lakh on BSNL, Rs 55 lakh on Loop, Rs 15 lakh on MTNL, Rs 5 lakh on Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Rs 35 lakh on Uninor and Rs 10 lakh on Videocon.
He said that during 2015-16 (upto May 31), 6 base tower stations (BTSs) were found exceeding the prescribed radiation limit on actual testing. The number of towers exceeding the limit stood at 103 in 2012-13 and 77 in 2013-14, while none of the towers were found to exceed the limit in 2014-15. (Courtesy: Financial Express)