New Delhi, February 18 The Delhi government has formed a three-member committee to formulate a drone policy aimed at making the city a hub for the design and manufacturing of flying objects, officials said on Wednesday.
The committee, headed by the secretary of the Information Technology (IT) department, will be assisted by experts, including those from IIT Delhi, the government official said.
The committee includes a Delhi Police officer and a special secretary of the Home department, he said.
Currently, the drone policies of states such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh are being studied to determine the modalities of a policy suitable for the needs of the national capital, where security concerns are paramount, the official said.
"The Delhi drone policy will focus on how to make the city a hub for research and development, as well as the design and manufacturing of drones. The use of drones will be just one aspect of it," he said.
In the wake of an explosion near the Red Fort in November last year, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the chief secretary to examine the possibility of a drone policy for the city, modeled after those in Telangana and Himachal Pradesh.
Besides the use of drones for defense, security, and surveillance purposes, there is significant potential in other fields such as aerial surveys, mapping, agriculture, disaster management, and deliveries.