Govt nod to ICMR drone trial for Covid-19 vaccine delivery

New Delhi: Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted a conditional exemption to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting a feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur. The permission exemption is valid for a period of one year or until further orders.

Furthermore, conditional drone use exemption has been granted to the below entities for said purposes for a period of one year or until further orders:

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1. Nagar Nigam of Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar & Rudrapur for preparation of GIS-based property database & electronic tax register.

2. West Central Railway, (WCR) Kota for train accident site & maintaining safety & security of the railway assets for a period of one year from the date of issue of the letter.

3. West Central Railway, (WCR) Katni for train accident site & maintaining safety & security of the railway assets for a period of one year from the date of issue of the letter.

In addition to these, Vedanta Ltd. (Cairn Oil & Gas) also received the conditional drone usage exemption for data acquisition for asset inspecting & mapping till 08/04/2022.

These exemptions shall be valid only if all conditions and limitations as stated for the respective entities are strictly adhered to. In case of violation of any condition, the exemption shall become null and void and action may be initiated by MoCA & DGCA. The links of the public notice of the drone usage permission grant to the aforementioned entities can be accessed from the MoCA website.

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