The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay have received the Government’s permission to operate drones.
The ICMR has been allowed the use of drones for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) vaccine delivery in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, and Nagaland up to a height of 3000 meters using drones.
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The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), on the other hand, has received drone use permission for research, development and testing of drones in its own premises.
The two organizations have been given conditional exemption from the Drone Rules, 2021 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The exemption will be subject to terms and conditions of the said airspace clearance and shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of the said airspace clearance or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
The link to the public notices can be accessed from the Ministry of Civil Aviation website, a Ministry announcement said today.
Earlier, on 11th September 2021, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia had launched the first of its kind ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project at Vikarabad in Telangana State under which drugs and vaccines will be delivered using drones.
On 25th August 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 to usher in an era of super-normal growth while balancing safety and security considerations in drone operations.