Parliamentarians Losing Interest In Public Health Hazard From Mobile Towers?

The parliamentary consultative committee on communication slated to discuss radiation from mobile towers and effect on public health saw a poor turnout of Members of Parliament. The committee, chaired by Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, saw only 7 of its 18 members present.

The consultative committee comprises of 14 members of the Lok Sabha and 4 members of the Rajya Sabha. In addition, the ministers of state for parliamentary affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and SS Ahluwalia are the ex-officio members. Both were also not present according to officials present at the meeting.

According to the handbook on the Working of Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Consultative Committees of Members of Parliament provide opportunities to Members to have some glimpse into the working of the Government. The handbook notes that the main objective of these committees is to provide a forum for informal discussion between Members of Parliament, on the one hand, and Ministers and senior officers of the Government on the other hand on the policies, principles and programmes of the Government and the manner of their implementation.

The seven members present at Tuesday's meeting were all from the Lok Sabha. There were, Arvind Ganpat Sawant (Shiv Sena), Bhola Singh (BJP), Darshana Vikram Jardosh (BJP), Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), Dr Nepal Singh (BJP), Parayamparanbil Kuttappan Biju (CPI (Marxist)), Rabindra Kumar Jena (BJD).

Those not present were Akshay Yadav (SP), Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan (BJP), K Gopal (AIADMK), Mriganka Mahato (TMC), Paresh Rawal (BJP), Ranjanben Bhatt (BJP), and Vijay Kumar S R (AIADMK).

None of the Members of Rajya Sabha were present in the meeting today. They were, C P Narayanan (CPI (Marxist)), Mukut Mithi (INC), Dr R Lakshmanan (AIADMK) and Raj Babbar (INC).