The Environment Ministry has set up a panel to study the impact of radiation from mobile towers on bees and birds and formulate guidelines for regulating installation of such structures.
This has come in the wake of reports that electromagnetic radiation emitted by the mobile towers posed threat to the movement and breeding of the bees and birds which are the best indicators of the status of the ecology.
The 10-member panel headed by Asad Rehmani, Director of the Bombay Natural History Society, will assess the possible impact of the radiation.
The panel will formulate guidelines for regulating the large scale installation of mobile towers in the country, a senior environment official said.
He said the panel comprised officials from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Telecom and Environment Ministries. Researchers in the field will also give suggestions.
Some studies have been conducted in India and abroad on the ill effects of mobile towers on animals, birds and insects and the panel will review the findings, he said.
A recent study conducted in Kerala found that radiation from mobile towers threatened the very existence of not only bees but also home sparrow, which lives in colonies close to human habitation even in urban areas.