ICMR gets Aviation Ministry nod to use drones for vaccine delivery

New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021 to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B). Both the organisations -- the IIT and the ICMR -- have been granted conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021, the statement said.

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 up to a height of 3,000 metres 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," the statement noted.

Medicine delivery via drones in Telangana

Earlier, on 11 September, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia 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.

New rules to operate drones in India

On August 25, the ministry had notified Drone Rules, 2021, to "usher in an era of super-normal growth while balancing safety and security considerations in drone operations", the ministry's statement said.

The policy, a liberalized version of rules first announced in March, will exempt a drone operator from seeking security clearance before registering a drone or applying for a licence. Also, foreign companies registered in India will be allowed to import and operate drones and their parts and will be regulated by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.