ICMR grants permission for drone trial to deliver vaccine

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has granted permission for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.

In a statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that the Ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption to the ICMR for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.

"The permission exemption is valid for a period of one year or until further orders," the Ministry said. The conditional drone use exemption has been granted to Nagar Nigam of Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar and Rudrapur for preparation of GIS based property database and electronic tax registeR for a period of one year or until further orders.

The permission to use drones was also granted to the West Central Railway (WCR) Kota and Katini 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.


In addition to these, Vedanta Limited (Cairn Oil and Gas) also received the conditional drone usage exemption for data acquisition for asset inspecting and mapping till April 8, 2022. "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 said. - IANS