Uttar Pradesh to be drone manufacturing hub, companies lined up, says CM Yogi Adityanath

Representational Image

Lucknow: In a bid to boost Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to set up several drone manufacturing units in the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that drones could be useful in various sectors such as agriculture, disaster management, health, maintenance of law and order, among others.

He directed the Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department to take necessary action for the establishment of drone manufacturing units.

Chairing a high-level review meeting, the CM said, “Considering the importance of 'drones' in various fields including disaster relief, agriculture, maintenance of law and order, a concrete action plan should be prepared to establish a drone manufacturing unit in the state.”

The Chief Minister has also asked the state to prepare its own manual. At present, there are no clear rules for flying drones in the state.

Instructing the officials, the CM further said that drones due to their accessibility, ease of use, can make a significant contribution to employment and economic development in remote and inaccessible areas. Also, there is also huge employment potential in the field of drone manufacturing. Many companies want to set up their units in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

The CM asked the officials to approach other investors too and suggested that the Defence Corridor can be a useful area for this industry.

Stating the need for a clear policy for private or commercial use of drones, the Chief Minister directed the Home Department to prepare drone manuals. The CM said that the Union Civil Aviation Ministry has issued a policy in this regard. Accordingly, the state government should also prepare drone rules.

The manual should have clear provisions regarding the issuance of a drone airworthiness certificate, maintenance certificate, acceptance of existing drones, operator permits, student remote pilot license, remote pilot instructor authorization, etc. to the drone users, said the CM.

He also directed to start diploma/certificate courses for training drone technology in ITIs and polytechnic institutes. “If necessary, the help of IIT Kanpur should be taken,” he added.

As drones can be controlled remotely and can be flown at varying distances and heights, they make perfect candidates to take on some of the trickiest jobs in the world.

In the agriculture sector, drones would be useful in spraying pesticides in an effective way like a mist so that the pesticides will deposit only on the plants or crops. During manual spraying, more quantity of pesticides is used which sometimes harms the soil as well as plants.

Drones can also be used in maintaining law and order and doing surveillance for VIP movement as these devices have the innate ability to hover around locations without drawing much attention from the people. Thus, this can be used for surveillance or for public safety.

Drones were used to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, especially for surveillance and spraying of disinfectants, among others.