Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 11: The state government has constituted a single-window clearance committee in every urban local body in the state to reduce red tape involved in obtaining clearance from government agencies to install telecom towers.
The committee, formed by the housing and urban development department, has been tasked to render faster services to telecom providers, according to the Special Regulation for Installation of Telecom Towers in Orissa, 2013.
The panel, which constitutes members from the urban local body concerned, the development authority, the local telecom department, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), public works department, the Airports Authority of India, the National Highways Authority of India and Indian Railways, will be headed by the urban local body chief.
The Orissa government had notified the Special Regulation for Installation of Telecom Towers December 24, 2013. Before this, it was not mandatory for telecom companies to get approvals from any of the government agencies to erect rooftop and ground-base cell towers in Orissa.
“The move will come as a relief for telecom service providers that face hardships in getting get no objection certificates (NOCs) for setting up mobile towers as they will not have to approach different departments individually,” said a BMC official.
A notification issued by H&UD secretary G Mathivathanan said the panel would scrutinise applications of telecom companies for telecommunication infrastructure tower (TIT) and NOCs from different agencies. “The panel would act as a facilitator for granting licences,” the notification said.
A senior official said that telecom firms cannot install cell towers within 100 metres of educational and health care institutions and 300 metres of monuments declared by ASI.
Besides, firms will also have to obtain certificates of radiation level from the Union department of telecommunication’s (DoT) Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cell or the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) for installing cell towers.
Only 405 mobile towers are registered with state’s largest civic body — the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) — while in reality the number has gone up to 1,000 in Bhubaneswar.
