DGCA Grants Permission To Ten Entities For Use Of Drones

New Delhi, August 16 (TNA) Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption from Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021 to ten organizations, an official said on Monday.

The entities include Government of Karnataka for drone based aerial survey for creating urban property ownership records in Bengaluru, National Health Mission, Mumbai for conducting experimental BVLOS drone flights to deliver essential healthcare items in tribal areas of Jawhar in Palghar district of Maharashtra, the Gangtok Smart City Development for drone based aerial survey for Smart City Project, Steel Authority of India, and IISCO Steel Plant, Burnpur, West Bengal for conducting perimeter surveillance of the plant

Permission has also been granted to the Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy, Hyderabad, Telangana, for conducting remote pilot training using drones, Blue Ray Aviation, Gujarat for conducting remote pilot training using drones, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, Chennai for conducting drone based aerial spraying to assess crop health & prevent crop disease, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mumbai, Maharashtra for conducting drone based agricultural trials & precision spraying on paddy & hot pepper crop in the state of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh respectively.

Bayer Crop Science, Mumbai, Maharashtra for conducting drone based agricultural research activities & agricultural spraying and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune has also been given permission for atmospheric research at 5 locations - IITM Bhopal, NDA, Pune, Karad Airport, Osmanabad Airport and Mohammed Airfield,Farrukhabad.

These exemptions are valid for a period of one year from the date of approval or until further orders, whichever is earlier and shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the SOP issued by DGCA.