Civil Aviation Min Scindia to launch interactive airspace map for flying drones in 2 days

In the latest development, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday announced that an interactive airspace map with red, yellow and green zones earmarked on it to indicate go and no-go areas for operating drones will be uploaded on a digital platform. On Thursday, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the airspace map had been prepared after consultation with state governments a month after the Centre unveiled a new policy for unmanned aerial vehicles. 

Briefing the media, Union Minister Scindia said no drones will be allowed to fly in the red zones on the airspace map while in the drones will be allowed to fly with permission from the concerned authorities, i.e. Digital Sky Platform in the yellow zones. Furthermore, in the green zones for drones, no permission will be required at all for operating them. 

On Wednesday, Union Min Scindia arrived in his home turf - Gwalior - for the first time after being inducted into the Union cabinet in the month of July. The BJP leader was accorded a grand welcome by the local people. The Minister stated, "We have prepared this airspace map in consultation with all state governments. There will be a Digital Sky Platform on it, which means there will be no (role of) the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)." 

Scindia added, "Permission (for operating drones) will be granted by the Digital Sky Platform. Those seeking it will have to enter the entire flight path. Within five seconds, permission or lack of it will be known. Soon after seeking the permission, people can fly their drones."

Citing an instance from Telangana, Hyderabad, Civil Aviation Minister Scindia said two days back COVID vaccines were sent by a drone to a remote area where nurses, doctors and beneficiaries were already present for inoculation. He informed that as soon as the drone landed at the designated place, the present nurses recorded the number of vaccines received in the inventory and soon after jabs were administered to people. 

The new drone policy introduced by the Centre will give a fresh impetus to India's economy and generate employment opportunities for people, especially youths. He further explained that even a 10th-grade student can become a drone pilot by getting training in 15 days to two months and can easily earn a salary of over Rs 30,000 per month. He added, "This is the strength of the new drone policy,"

Scindia, along with officials, also later inspected the land that is allotted for expansion of the Gwalior airport. The additional space for the airport has been provided by the Central Potato Research Institute at the behest of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.  The BJP leader recalled that it was the dream of his late grandmother, Vijayaraje Scindia, and his late father Madhavrao Scindia to provide international level flight services from Gwalior and vowed to fulfill their dreams.

India's new drone policy

On August 25, the Ministry of Civil Aviation eased the rules regarding drone operations in the nation by reducing the number of forms that need to be filled to operate them from 25 to 5. The Ministry had also decreased the types of fees charged from the operator from 72 to 4. As per the new rules, the fee has been reduced to nominal levels and de-linked from the size of the drone. Furthermore, the rules have also abolished the requirement of numerous approvals, including certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permits, authorisation of R&D organisation and student remote pilot licence. according to Drone Rules, 2021, several other approvals like unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number and certificate of manufacturing and airworthiness have also been abolished.

(Image: PTI)