Srinagar: Government authorities in Srinagar district have banned the storage, sale, possession, use and transport of drones and similar kind of unmanned aerial vehicles within the territorial jurisdiction of the district.
In an order district magistrate of Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz, asked the authorities to secure aerial space near vital installations and highly populated areas. To do that it is imperative to discontinue the use of drones in all social and cultural gatherings.
This latest development comes as a bad news to the agriculture sector in Kashmir which has several projects in pipeline for the use of drones in various agricultural and horticultural activities, mainly spraying of pesticides and fungicides.
A few projects are also considering use of drones in highlands of Kashmir for pest management and control.
As of now, it is unclear whether the drone ban would be extended to agricultural sector.
The Government ban order, issued under Section 144 of CrPC, reads that the decentralized airspace access has to be regulated in view of recent episodes of misuse of drones, which are posing a threat to security infrastructure as reported by the media and other reliable sources.
“Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has provided draft guidelines/SOP to regulate the use of drones in terms of weight classification, generation of Unique Identification Number, height/ altitude restrictions, speed restriction, enforcement/panel action etc,” the order reads.
“Keeping in view the security situation, apart from concerns of breach of privacy, nuisance and trespass, it is extremely dangerous to let unmanned aerial vehicles to wander around in the skies within the territorial jurisdiction of Srinagar district,” the order reads.
