New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation announced the updated Drone Policy under Drone Rules 2021 on Thursday. As per the new drone rules, the centre has discarded the clearance required before registration or license issuance. Furthermore, the Maximum fee for permissions was also reduced to nominal levels.
The centre also revised the load-carrying capacity of the droned from 300kg to 500 kg which would include heavy payload-carrying drones and drone taxis. The drone would also have to follow an interactive air space map with green, yellow and red zones in the digital sky platform. The new rule also enables cargo deliveries via drones through its specific corridors.
The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is authorized to provide training and conduct examinations and furnish pilot licenses online. Sources from the centre inform the establishment of an Unmanned Aircraft System Promotion committee that would facilitate a business-friendly regulatory regime. Additionally, the import of drones would be monitored by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. The centre also reduced maximum penalties to Rs 1 lakh, which is not applicable to penalties in respect of violation of other laws.
The rules have abolished the requirement of various approvals including certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones. Operator permits, authorization of R&D organization and student remote pilot license the govt said.
Earlier on July 15 the Centre had announced and invited comments from stakeholders and the industry till 5th August as it aimed to revise the drone rules. The need to rehash the Unmanned Aircraft system arose after unfortunate incidents at Jammu Kashmir were reported recently.
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