Commercial drones get green signal from Dec 1; food delivery not allowed

The commercial use of drones across sectors such as agriculture, health and disaster relief under new regulations will come into force from December 1, but the delivery of payload, including food items, will not be allowed as of now, the government said on Monday.

Further, while drones can be used for agricultural purpose, they cannot be used for spraying pesticides until specifically cleared. Besides, carriage of explosives, animals and human payload are not allowed.

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry has come up with the country's first policy to regulate the use of drones starting December 01, 2018, whereby permission to fly drones can be sought following registration.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Monday, "Users will be required to get their drones registered. For every flight (exempted for the nano category), users will be required to ask for permission through a mobile app; an automated process permits or denies the request instantly. To prevent unauthorised flights and to ensure public safety, any drone without a digital permit to fly will simply not be able to take off."

The statement added, "All civilian drone operations will be restricted only during daytime and flying will be restricted within visual line of sight which usually would be 450 metres. Airspace has been partitioned into Red Zone (flying not permitted), Yellow Zone (controlled airspace), and Green Zone (automatic permission)."

However, several central intelligence agencies will be exempted from the permissions along with nano and microdrones operating below 50 and 200 feet.

The regulation prevents the drones from flying around airports, near the international border, near coastline, state secretariat complexes. Besides, they cannot operate in strategic locations, vital and military installations and Vijay Chowk in the capital.

In 2014, the Mumbai Police had contacted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) after a pizza outlet had delivered pizza using a drone

Further, instead of simply digitising a paper-based process for registering and operating drones, the Civil Aviation Ministry has formulated an all-digital process. "The Digital Sky Platform will be the first national unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform. The UTM operates as a traffic regulator in the drone airspace and coordinates closely with the defence and civilian air traffic controllers (ATCs) to ensure that drones remain on the approved flight paths," the statement read.

AS PER THE RULES

• Users of nano drones, which weigh less than 250 g and flies up to 50 feet, are exempted from securing permission, including from local police. 
   
• But micro drones flying up to 200 feet and small drones flying over 450 feet and above will have to seek permission from the police.

(With agency inputs)