Union minister K Rammohan Naidu said that the ministries of civil aviation and home affairs are working to formulate guidelines for safe operations and optimum utilisation of drones on Wednesday. “For drones, there is a security angle also. We are sitting with the Ministry of Home Affairs trying to formulate some guidelines and if necessary, an Act also around it,” Naidu said.
In light of the recent events in Manipur, the minister was answering a question on whether the government is considering any specific plans to deal with rogue drones. Recently, militants deployed drones to launch bomb attacks in the ethnic violence in Manipur.
Naidu went on to say that the rules are meant to guarantee safe operations and optimum utilisation of drones. He said that inter-ministerial consultations are being done in this regard.
The government has been implementing a number of initiatives to encourage the wider usage of drones across sectors. “The Prime Minister has been a huge promoter of the usage of drones for different activities especially agriculture. When we create guidelines, it has to promote utilisation of drones and also address the security part. It is going to be an inter-ministerial effort. We are in the process of doing the consultations,” Naidu said.
(with PTI inputs)