Days after the Chennai police said that it was considering regulation of private use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), Kolkata Police banned any private use of UAVs or drones in the city. This comes in the wake of a private drone crashing into the White House compound in Washington D.C. on Monday.
“Private companies or private users are not allowed to use any kind of Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAVs) in the city. Only government agencies are allowed to take help of Unmanned Ariel Vehicles. The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will soon issue guidelines for regarding the use of UAVs,” Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Headquarters) Rajiv Mishra told journalists.
The Mumbai police also imposed a ban on private use of drones or UAVs as it posed a security threat. The decision came after a pizza outlet used an UAV to deliver a pizza as a publicity stunt in May last year.
Even as DGCA was in the “process of formulating regulations” in this regard, in a notice issued on October 7, 2014 it imposed a ban on private use of drones as it “poses a security threat.” Till proper regulations are issued, “no non-government agency, organisation or an individual” will launch a UAV in Indian Civil Airspace, stated the DGCA notice.
Pointing out the high density of “manned aircraft traffic” in Airspace over Indian cities, DGCA said that due to lack of regulation, UAVs poses threat of “air collision and accidents.”
Source: The Hindu