BJP Spokesperson and Velim leader, Savio Rodrigues, has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appealing him to stop the construction of mobile towers in a school premises, situated in the village of San Jose de Areal, Goa. In his letter, Rodrigues has mentioned how the mobile company supervisors were telling the villagers who were protesting, that an FIR would be filed against them if they did not allow them to complete their work of erecting the mobile tower.
The letter further says that the village panchayat had issued a stop work order to the mobile company but the company refused to stop the work, after which, Rodrigues requested Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant to stop the work immediately. Dr Sawant, keeping in mind the interest of the people of Velim then consented to his appeal and got the work of the erection of the tower stopped with immediate effect.
“A mobile tower in a school premises is wrong. The people of Velim are not against mobile towers, we are just against mobile towers in a school premises”, expressed the BJP Spokesperson in his letter to the PM.
The letter further states that no one is aware of where the mobile towers are coming in their villages and neither have, they been made party to any government discussion making process. Sadly, neither was the panchayat privy to the decision taking by the Goa government on the location of the mobile towers.
Savio then added how the orders of the government and its implementation appears to be done with brute force and under police protection without even taking into account the view of the people the mobile towers are intended to serve.
“Such is the lack of humanness and common sense that the government authorities gave rights to the mobile company to erect a mobile tower in a school premise. Therefore, in all fairness it needed to be objected too and government needed to be made of aware about the concerns of the people”, he added.
The letter further says that in a school for special children in Mapusa, Goa when villagers protested against the erection of the mobile tower, the mobile company went to the High Court and because of poor petition of the harmful effects of mobile radiation to children, the mobile company was allowed continue with the construction of its mobile tower, which was sad and deplorable.
“I completely support the Indian government in its plan to roll-out 25,000 thousand mobile towers across India in 500-days at the cost to the public exchequer of Rs 26,000 crores because a digitized and connected India is the need of the hour. However, the better future we are endeavouring to create for our children is solely dependent on the decisions we make in the present for their benefits. A mobile tower inside a school premises is dangerous to the health of our children”, expressed Savio further.
Stating that children are most vulnerable to cell phone radiation as they absorb it deeper into their brains and bodies, a child’s developing brain and organ systems are more sensitive to environmental stressors, and even if the radiation absorption were the same as in adults, the effects in children can be far more serious, Rodrigues mentioned how a number of researchers have proved that such radiation adversely affects children, and how, in 2011, radiofrequency radiation was classified as a Class 2B possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
It was further added by him that how then and now, the published peer-reviewed scientific evidence has significantly increased. Now, many scientists are of the opinion that the weight of current peer-reviewed evidence supports the conclusion that radiofrequency radiation should be regarded as a human carcinogen.
The letter also reads, “Researchers have studied cell towers and cell tower radiation for decades. Effects from RFR documented in scientific research include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, headaches, sleep issues, genetic damage, changes to the reproductive system, memory deficits, and impacts to the nervous system. The danger of radiation to children can be debated and at the end of the debate those who want to put up mobile towers can pontificate on the theory of ‘no harm to children’ but common sense will indicate that whether we accept the harmfulness of mobile towers in close vicinity to schools or not, it is harmful”.
Towards the end of his letter, Savio requested the PM if a little prudence can be used while rolling out 25, 000 mobile towers and if school premises could be avoided for mobile towers to be placed in.
