Drone delivery of vaccines, drugs to be piloted in 16 green zones in Telangana

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradtiya Scindia, on Saturday, said the Telangana government's 'Medicines from the Sky' project will be taken up on a pilot basis in 16 green zones in the state. 

He added that the project, under which drugs and vaccines are delivered with the help of drones, will be scaled up to the national level based on data. 

Launching 'Medicines from the Sky' project, the union minister stated that the new Drone Policy notified recently by the Centre eased rules pertaining to drone operations in India by curtailing the number of forms required to be filled to operate them from 25 to 5 and decreasing the types of fee charged from the operator from 72 to 4.

Also Read: Blue Dart, Skye Air team up for drone delivery of vaccines, medicines in Telangana

Under the Green zone, no permission is needed to fly drones. Whereas permissions are needed in the Yellow zone while Red Zones are no-fly areas.

"In 16 Green Zones, this ''Medicines from the Sky'' project will be taken up. The data will be analysed for three months. We along with the Health Ministry, IT Ministry, state government and the Centre will together analyse the data and make a model for the whole country. Today is a revolutionary day not only for Telangana but for the whole country," the minister said.

Scindia said under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Drone Policy was envisaged.

He further said an interactive aerospace map is being prepared. With the help of the map, various zones are being earmarked with the help of states.

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine delivery through drones? Centre invites bids

The 'Medicine from the Sky' is an initiative of Telangana in partnership with the World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog, and HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals).

The project was launched on experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of vaccines using the identified airspace of the Vikarabad district.

Telangana Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao requested the Union Minister to establish an Aviation University or Centre of excellence at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad. 

Also Read: New drone rules to help startups, SMEs boost innovation: Nasscom

(With inputs from PTI.)