Draft rules for drones will be reworked & sent to law ministry within a month: Amber Dubey

August 27, 2020: Amber Dubey, joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation, said that the ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are moving fast with the regulatory framework for drones and a separate team is working every day to change the draft rules, released in June, according to the comments coming in from the public.

"The draft rules for drones were made in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis. Right now there is a separate team working on the comments coming in from the public and change the rules. By October 2 the draft rules should go to the law ministry," he said.

He was speaking during the first day of the three-day Virtual Cargo Drone Summit organised by STAT Media Group.

"On the digital sky platform, we have opened up the green areas in July 2020 and the yellow areas on August 15 which comprise the 70 percent of all the space available. For the red zones we have the offline GARUD scheme for which the target approval time is just 7 days," said Amber.

"We have already approved 20 consortia for Beyond Visual Line Control (BVLOS) cargo drones and the moment they get the security clearance they will be able to fly. My request to my young friends is to start planning and don't wait for the security clearance it will happen," he continued.

"In the last three weeks, we have approved 12 drone schools for training. For government entities we have launched the Government Authorisation for Relief Using Drones (Garud) scheme in a fast track manner," he said.