Karnataka govt launches aerial spraying of disinfectant to curb infection spread

Organic disinfectants will be aerially sprayed over highly populated areas of the city. The project was launched at the Jakkur aerodrome on Saturday. DH Photo/Janardhan B K

Organic disinfectants will be aerially sprayed over highly populated areas of the city. The project was launched at the Jakkur aerodrome on Saturday. DH Photo/Janardhan B K

The government on Saturday launched a pilot project to spray organic disinfectant aerially via specially designed airplanes.

Revenue Minister R Ashoka launched the project at the Jakkur aerodrome. The pilot project, developed by Aerialworks Aero LLP, will venture to spray disinfectants over Shivajinagar and KR Market for three days, starting Monday, the minister said.

“If the results are feasible, we will consider replicating the project in other areas,” Ashoka said.

Capt Murali Ramakrishna, director, Aerialworks Aero, said the company has obtained all approval from statutory bodies to conduct the aerial spraying.

"These are human-friendly bio-chemicals and are not harmful even when if it falls on human beings,” Ramakrishna said, adding that the disinfectant is also 100% skin-friendly. A team that has experience in spraying disinfectants in the US and Africa will carry out the task.

Company sources said an American Champion Scout aeroplane capable of low altitude flying will spray the disinfectant.

"The plane carries a load of 300 litres of disinfectant to cover 300 hectares in an hour. The spray will be below 100 microns in size and aerosols created will stay suspended in the air for at least a few hours and kill harmful microbes," explained Ramakrishna.

Aerial spraying after 28 years

A similar experiment in 1990 had been carried out to spray Endosulphan on the cashew crops in Kasaragod and Mangaluru.

Ramakrishna said the current experiment has no comparisons. “We are using Airlines Minus Corona and Sugaradhana Organic Antimicrobial concentrate,” he said.

“The first is an effective sanitisation system that uses water and electricity to generate sanitisation solutions to be sprayed in public places. This has been developed by PerSapien Innovation and tested at Stanford University.”

An ayurvedic solution developed by Dr Karthik Narayanan, the antimicrobial concentrate will help control the bacteria and fungus in labs and outdoor areas. Besides being 100% skin-friendly, it does not affect human beings.

“We have been spraying these for mosquito controls in South Sudan and Ethiopia where the results are satisfactory," Ramakrishna clarified.

State government officials said the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board’s (KSPCB) technical team will monitor the spread and effectiveness of the spray.

Sources also claimed that the company refused the proposal to spray hypochlorite solution and insisted that it would spray only human-friendly biochemicals.