Indian State of Telangana Looks to Expand Use of Drones
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India is extremely cautious and restricts use of drones in the country with the aim to prevent anti-social elements from using them inappropriately. However, it now appears that the State government of Telangana is considering discussions with the DGCA to make the regulations regarding use of drones more flexible.
A first a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Telangana State Aviation Academy (TSAA), State government of Telangana and Cyient to train drone pilots in the State. As part of this collaboration, Cyient will provide the tools necessary for the courses and programs, while TSAA will be in charge of the services and infrastructure course structure will be laid down by the DGCA.
Cyient, an engineering and geospatial solutions company, has already worked on drone-based projects like Precision Agriculture, Volumetric Analysis in Mining and Aerial Security. To encourage use of innovative drone technology and its further development Cyient hosted India’s first ever UAV hackathon in 2018- HACKDRONE. Cyient has worked on several projects with the Telangana government over the past couple of years to develop innovative drone applications for various industries such as agriculture, urban planning, mapping, infrastructure, utility inspections.
Krishna Bodanapu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Cyient, said that this project will help create a pool of skilled drone pilots equipped to meet industry needs. The drone pilot training facility set up by Cyient and TSAA will use simulators to train pilots. The five-day training programme will include theory concepts and simulations followed by actual practical drone flying exercises. Upon successful completion of the training the participants will earn a DGCA-authorised Remote Pilot Licence and Certification.
G B Reddy, officiating CEO of TSAA, stated, “We look forward to play an active role in providing industry with well trained drone pilots who can fly drone for a simple or complex application.”
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, IT, Electronics & Communications, Government of Telangana, said, “This partnership is an exciting step toward imparting emerging skills with tremendous potential to shape the future of our youth.
The Telangana government has been experimenting with drone use for aid in administrative purposes too. For instance, the GHMC began using drones to spray anti-larval insecticides at different lakes including Musi. Similarly the Nalgonda experiment of spraying fertilisers for the crops and even helping with data for the Master plan of Yadagirigutta is credited to drone technology.
