Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.

The permission is valid for a period of one year or until further orders, according to the Civil Aviation Ministry.

Besides, conditional drone use exemption has been granted to a few entities including Nagar Nigam of Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar and Rudrapur for preparing GIS-based property database and electronic tax register.

Conditional exemption has been granted to West Central Railway, Kota for train accident site and maintaining safety and security of the railway assets for a period of one year from the date of issue of the letter.

West Central Railway, Katni for train accident site and maintaining safety and security of the railway assets have also been granted exemption for a period of one year from the date of issue of the letter.

In addition to these, Vedanta (Cairn Oil and Gas) also received the conditional drone usage exemption for data acquisition to inspect and map assets.

These exemptions shall be valid only if all conditions and limitations as stated for the respective entities are strictly adhered to. In case of violation of any condition, the exemption shall become null and void and action may be initiated by MoCA and DGCA, the ministry stated.

The links to the public notice of the permission granted to the aforementioned entities to use drones can be accessed from the MoCA website.