India’s DGCA (Directorate General for Civil Aviation) has benned the use of drones, even for civilian purposes, till it sets further, specific rules for the same. DGCA is the government body which sets laws regarding the use of Indian airspace by civilan aircrafts.
DGCA has notified via a circular on Monday that although it has started formulating laws for the use of drones by commercial and civilian operators, but till the time laws are formulated, their use is banned.
In the circular, DGCA said,
The UAS (unmanned aerial system) has potential for a large number of civil applications. However, its use, besides being a safety issue, also poses a security threat. The airspace over cities in India has high density of manned aircraft traffic. Due to lack of regulation, operating procedures/ standards and uncertainty of the technology, UAS poses threat for air collisions and accidents
Several commercial organisations, including the likes of Amazon, have shown considerable interest in operating drones for delivery purposes.
For example, last month, Economic Times reported that Amazon was planning to deploy its Prime Air service in India, even before the U.S., as getting operational clearance in the U.S. was taking quite a bit of time. Amazon, later declined the same to Tech-Portal.
Not only commercial ventures, even Government bodies, like Mumbai Police and Delhi Police, have used drones in the past for surveillance purposes at large events. DGCA, further said that its is in the process of formulating laws for the use of drones, and “globally harmonize those” for certification and operation for use of UAS in the Indian civil airspace.
VIA DNAINDIA
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