Telecommunication towers

A deadly cash cow:

Nadira Gunatilleke

Telecommunication towers which are mushrooming all over Sri Lanka without any control since the recent past have become a cash cow for a few persons while the same has become a deadly curse for the Sri Lankan public.

It is very sad to see how late Sri Lankans have realised the grave danger posed by these towers. Only now (after decades) have people come forward to fight for the safety of their lives, after lightning hit an entire housing scheme located next to a telecommunication tower at Pinkotuwa, Panadura last month.

Science, technology, experts and companies may tell something entirely different after going through this story but it does not matter because this is purely some very recent experiences of the villagers who lived in a township for over 35 years. Anyone can judge what is true and what is false after reading their first-hand experiences.

The exact location is 'Avariwatta'. This is a small area where a small housing scheme is located in Pinkotuwa. A person can reach this location by travelling along the Panadura - Bandaragama Road. It is only 5 kilometres from Panadura town towards Bandaragama/Horana.

This was a very peaceful and clean area where people lived without any trouble caused by natural disasters such as floods, landslides and lightning. Now it is only history.

According to the villagers of Pinkotuwa and Alubomulla, this was a very safe area for people until telecommunication towers came a few years back. Religious institutions have rented lands to set up telecommunication towers all over the area.

Everything started after that. They say the heaven that they lived for over 35 years has now become a hell. An entire housing scheme with around 25 houses have been completely destroyed and burnt after lightning hit the area last April.

According to Chandrani Kurera (not her real name) living next to this tower, the most powerful assault of lightning hit the area on April 29, just after celebrating the Sinhala and Hindu New Year. "First I did not realise what it was, but I saw the entire house located next to ours completely burnt and I thought a group of persons had set it on fire. I started to pray and asked other family members to stay in their beds without making any move. Only after a while I realised that it was lightning", she said.

"Our house was damaged and we lodged a complaint at the nearest police station. We had to wire the whole house again in order to obtain electricity for the second time.

Complaint

We stayed without electricity for one week. All the bulbs, fans, television, our boundary wall, fences, glasses of cupboards were completely destroyed. This is the most powerful blow of lightning that we experienced so far.

Earlier there were several occasions of lightning and we lost a number of electric appliances. But we did not realise the gravity of the problem. Only now we realised it after some of our neighbours felt a stream of hot air move around their bodies", she added.

T. Perera, a businessman living close to another telecommunication tower located at Walawuwatta, Alubomulla said that he and his relatives living in the area lost a number of electric appliances during the past few years due to lightning. "Now we use the third iron we bought during a very short period of time. A number of trees in our garden have been burnt due to lightning. This was not so during the last 30 years.

No damages were caused before due to lightning. It started only after the tower came. I have no idea how we are going live here like this", he said.

"The security system and several electric appliances belonging to one of my relative's house burnt several times due to lightning.

It is like living with death. No one knows when lightning strikes you. It seems the land owner gets around Rs.50,000 per month as rent for the tower. Therefore the land owners will not care for peoples' safety," he added.

Rajmi, a lady lawyer living in Payagala says there is a tower coming up in her area. It belongs to one of the fixed line operators. The relevant parties including the religious institution which rented the land is going to erect the tower despite a pouring of protests of the community living in the area. We cannot leave our homes we built with care spending hard-earned money.

Fixed

There is no place to go. I am sorry to say that we have to live in fear in our own homes because of some persons' greed for money.

Kamala, a school teacher living in the same area said that religious institutions also need money to exist and can earn money several other ways.

The Bellanwila Raja Maha Viharaya is the best example for this.

This temple donates money for needy patients. The money earned from the car park goes directly to the innocent poor patients who are fighting for their lives. This can be named as one of the supreme acts of living gods. This is one fine example for real religious institution. But religious institutions have no right to put the lives of innocent poor people in danger.

People seek consolation from religious institutions and visit them with extreme veneration. But the same people are now cursing these places.

Some of the religious institutions and individuals rented lands belonging to them to private companies to erect towers and put the lives of innocent children, women and others in grave danger. These poor people have no place to go. They have been living here for over four decades.

They have built their homes and bought electric appliances spending hard earned money. This is the first and last time they can do so. No one can build the house again or buy the same electric equipment for the second time.

They do not have money even to get them repaired. What if their children die from lightning strikes or become permanently disabled?

According to some scientific findings these telecommunication towers produce significant amount of radiation and excessive heat.

Both are dangerous for the health of human beings. It is also believed that this is one major cause for blood cancer in children.

Licence

Last week the Ministry of Environment announced that no tower can be erected without the 'Environmental Protection Licence' issued by the Central Environmental Authority. It has also announced that the towers should be at least 500 metres away from homes.

The new regulations also apply for the existing telecommunication towers belonging to different telecommunication service providers. According to the Director General, Central Environment Authority (CEA), Pasan Gunasena, the CEA annually monitors parties which obtain the licences and prosecute them if they do not act as pledged.

It is revealed that although telecommunication towers are mushrooming all over the country, most of the existing towers have been built violating numerous rules and regulations.

When lightning strikes, these towers do not ground it but throw it away to the nearby houses, buildings, trees and similar places. It takes a few hours to erect or demolish a telecommunication tower and it takes seconds to lose several lives. The public has a major role to play here.

That is taking swift action against the culprits before lightning takes away precious lives and hard-earned property while not letting another deadly tower invade adjoining lands.