Srinagar: Authorities on Sunday banned storage, sale, possession, use and transport of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in district Srinagar.
An order issued by the district administration Srinagar to regulate the use of drones provides that persons already having drone cameras/unmanned aerial vehicles in their possession shall ground the same in the local police station(s).
The order restricts flying off drones within a distance of 3 kilometers from the perimeter of any civil, private, defence airports, military installations/facilities and secretariat complex.
It has also restricted use of drones within 2 kilometers from perimeter of strategic locations/vital installations and over eco-sensitive zones around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
The administration further said that the decentralised airspace access has to be regulated in view of recent episodes of misuse of drones posing threat to security infrastructure.
It said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has provided draft guidelines/standard operating protocol to regulate the use of drones in terms of weight classification, generation of unique identification number, height/altitude restrictions, speed restrictions, enforcement/panel action, etc.
The order said that with a view to secure the aerial space near the vital installations and highly population areas, it is imperative to discontinue the use of drones in all social and cultural gatherings to eliminate any risk of inuring to the life and damage to property.
It said that it was extremely dangerous to let unmanned aerial vehicles to wander around in the skies within the territorial jurisdiction of district Srinagar.
Official sources said that such directions are on cards in other districts of Kashmir as well. They said that security around the vital installations is being reviewed constantly.
The Rajouri district administration on June 30 banned sale or possession of flying objects, as at least five sorties of drones around the security installations in Jammu since June 27, including the IAF’s technical airport recently, have the security agencies on the tenterhooks in J&K.
“In exercise of powers vested to me under Section 144 of the CrPC, a ban is imposed on storage, sale, possession, use and transport of any drone or small flying objects, toys in the district,” Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Kumar Savan had said in an order.