Govt plans drone clusters, smart governance, disaster response under new policy

The Delhi Government’s proposed drone policy is likely to focus on creating drone research clusters, establishing dedicated flight-testing facilities, enabling the use of drones in traffic management, and providing subsidies to support the drone ecosystem, officials said on Saturday.

According to officials, in a recently held meeting, the policy framework was discussed, where plans to rope in the Drone Federation of India (DFI), a leading non-government organisation in this area, were approved.

Earlier this year, the government set up a committee under the chairmanship of the IT department secretary to examine the feasibility of the Delhi Drone Policy.

“A comprehensive drone policy is being planned to ensure safe and regulated drone operations. Along with this, the government is working on an IT dashboard, a digital monitoring system to provide effective governance,” IT minister Pankaj Singh said.

According to officials, the policy’s key objectives include regulating drone usage to prevent misuse, enabling government agencies to use drones for surveillance and mapping, and strengthening integration with the DGCA’s Digital Sky platform.

“The Delhi Drone Policy is focused around five focus areas, including public awareness and enforcement under these events, outreach, zoning signage, sensitisation workshops, safety framework and counter-drone standard operating procedures will be worked out,” the official said.

Additionally, government drone usage will involve policing, disaster response, and traffic management in the city. “The policy also intends to plan the sector usage of drones in real estate projects, telecom and media,” officials added.

According to the plan, the government is considering capacity-building initiatives like drone awareness workshops in schools, establishing centres of excellence, setting up Remote Pilot Training Organisations (RPTO), and launching pilot training projects. “A supporting drone ecosystem, facilities like drone clusters for research, flight testing facilities, and subsidy and state GST reimbursement could be part of the policy,” the official said.