New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS): The government has imposed Rs.10.80 crore penalty on telecom service providers till May 31 this year for violating prescribed limits of radiation from mobile towers, the parliament was informed on Friday.

The maximum penalty of Rs.2.15 crore was imposed on Bharti Airtel followed by.Rs 1.80 crore on Vodafone, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Noting the total number of mobile Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) setup at mobile towers in the country, as on May 31, are 9,08,353, he said the number of BTSs found exceeding radiation limits prescribed by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on actual testing till May were six - as against 103 in 2012-13, 77 in 2013-14 and zero in 2014-15.

Prasad said the penalty for violation of actual EMF radiation norms has been increased from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.10 lakh per BTS per incidence. Instructions in this regard were issued on January 20, 2013.

In order to ensure compliance to the prescribed norms of EMF radiation from mobile towers, the extensive audit of self-certificates being submitted by telecom service providers and BTS sites is carried out by Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring (TERM) field units of DoT.

"In case, any BTS site is found to violate the prescribed EMF norms, actions are taken to put a penalty of Rs.10 lakh per BTS per incidence including closing of BTS site, if the violation persists. Additionally, the BTS sites against which there are public complaints are also tested by TERM Cell," the minister said.