No drone or Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is allowed to be flown within a radius of 25 km of international borders. This statement from the government has come at a time when the incident of drone attack on Jammu airbase came to light recently.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation said on 05 August 2021 that no unmanned aircraft system will be allowed to fly within 25 kms of the International Border including Line of Control (LoC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL). will be given.
Replying to an unstarred question related to the regulation of drones, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh told the Lok Sabha that the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules 2021 have been notified on 12 March 2021.
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The minister said in his reply, “These rules are related to all aspects of the use of drones such as registration, ownership, transfer, import, operation of drone traffic management, payment of fees and fines etc. All types of civilian drone activities are being governed by the UAS Rules 2021.
In response to the question whether the government is looking at separating drones used in professional videography and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) used for defense purposes, the ministry said that the UAS Rules 2021 for all types of professional videography including Applicable to UAVs being used for civilian purposes. But the UAS rules will not apply to the operation of UAVs for defense purposes.
The Ministry further said that to deal with the menace of drones in the country, on 10 May 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued the necessary Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). In this, the central as well as the state governments have been told about the steps to be taken after discussion with the security agencies.
