Aviation Ministry grants ICMR conditional permission to use drones for vaccine delivery

Both the organisations -- the IIT and the ICMR -- have been granted conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021, the statement said

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021 to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B).

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. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has received drone use permission for research, development and testing of drones in its own premises.

“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,” a press statement said on Monday.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday had launched the first of its kind ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project at Vikarabad in Telangana state under which drugs and vaccines will be delivered using drones.

On 25 August 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 to usher in an era of supernormal growth while balancing safety and security considerations in drone operations.

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