India Delays Rules for Industrial Drones

Posted: 2018-4-11

India’s ambitious plans for a drones policy built on a so-called digital sky framework has hit a roadblock over clearances from the ministry of home affairs and various defence establishments. This will further delay regulations that are already behind schedule and may even end up amending some of the proposed rules.

"The CAR is not finalised yet. We are currently awaiting comments from the Ministry of Home Affairs, only after which we will be able to finalise and release the CAR," a senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s aviation regulator, told FactorDaily. CAR is short for Civil Aviation Requirements that set rules for operating drones and other unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

According to the official, the DGCA and the ministry of home affairs met last week to discuss the draft.

While publishing the draft CAR for drones in November 2017, the civil aviation ministry had said it expected to finalise drone regulations in two months time. "Not having a regulation was amounting to total ban of any activity and that doesn’t make sense. A lot of people were enquiring about it and wondered why we delayed it," Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the then minister for civil aviation had told reporters after release of the draft CAR.

The ministry of civil aviation along with the DGCA had held open houses in Delhi and Bengaluru in November and December for public comments.

But the automated, single-window clearance system is proving to more difficult to implement that anticipated.

"It will take a few months before the policy will come out. There are so many loopholes and so much has to be fixed, that it can’t happen overnight. The policy will have to clearly outline aspects of privacy and trespassing," a senior government official with knowledge of the policy told FactorDaily. "Then are are problems of terrorist threats. The policy will have to detail how to manage these problems. The ministry of home affairs and ministry of defence will have to clear those and only then will the policy come out."

According to this official, sorting out air traffic regulations and incorporating the handling of rogue drones are other things that are yet to be figured out. "The government will also have to detail out air traffic regulations, what actions need to be taken if a drone goes rogue, and who will take the legal liabilities if something happens. In its current form, these problems and concerns are not detailed out. Then, the drones are also a problem — some of them are too small for easy detection. For air traffic controllers that’s an added burden," the official added

Read the full article at Factor Daily.