The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday granted conditional exemption of usage of drones from the existing rules for ICMR to allow it to experiment delivery of Covid-19 vaccines in inaccessible and rough terrains of regions of Andaman and Nicobar, Mizoram and Nagaland. The system is already in use in Telangana on a trial basis in areas that are inaccessible.
Similarly, the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has received drone use permission for research, development and testing of drones in its own premises.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), allowed conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021 granting the two premier institutes in the country to use the ultra manned vehicles .
“The permission has been granted to ICMR for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) vaccine delivery in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, and Nagaland upto a height of 3000 meters using drones.
“This exemption shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the said airspace clearance and shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of the said airspace clearance or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” said the statement.
On September 11, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia had launched the 'Medicines from the Sky' project in Telangana's Vikrabad, under which vaccines and other essential products will be transported to remote areas using drones.
During the trial flight, vaccines were delivered in 9 minutes, Balfour Manuel, the managing director of Bluedart, had said.
The project, which seeks to deliver medicines, vaccination, and units of blood to remote, rural areas by means of drones, is a collaboration of the Telangana government, World Economic Forum, HealthNet Global and NITI Aayog.