The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption in Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021 to facilitate aerial survey and photogrammetry of the Centrally protected monuments in Bhubaneswar.
The exemption has been given to the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar which will carry out the survey in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) using drones.
As per a PIB release, the approved locations for drone operations for the NISER survey include the Lord Lingaraj temple and Raja-Rani temple in Bhubaneswar.
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It is pertinent to mention here that the NISER had sought permission for the use of drones by effecting exemption in the UAS Rules through an application in July this year.
“This exemption is valid for a period of one year from the date of approval or until further orders, whichever is earlier and shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the SOP issued by DGCA,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation notification read.
Earlier this month, permission for the use of drones was also granted to the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies (DULB), Haryana for data acquisition, mapping, and implementation of web-based GIS platform for the development of AMRUT cities and property tax survey for Hisar, Panchkula, Ambala urban areas.