Comments
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has got permission from the government to use drones for live aerial filming of cricket matches.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said they have granted conditional exemption to BCCI for the deployment of drones for “live aerial cinematography” of the India Cricket Season in 2021.
The Ministry had received requests from BCCI and Quidich Innovation Labs for permission to use Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for live aerial filming.
In a statement, Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation said, “The drone ecosystem is evolving rapidly in our country. Its utilisation is expanding from agriculture, mining, and healthcare and disaster management to sports and entertainment. The granting of this permission is in line with the objectives of the Government of India to promote the commercial use of drones in the country.”
He said that the Drone Rules 2021 are in the final stages of discussion with the law ministry and the Ministry hopes to receive the approvals by March 2021.
DCGA had in the past given permission to BCCI for live aerial videography for IPL matches.
Riders attached
BCCI has been given the conditional permission till December 31, 2021 or until the full operationalisation of Digital Sky Platform (Phase-1), whichever is earlier. The cricket board will need to obtain necessary clearances from local administrations, Defence Ministry, Airports Authority of India and the Indian Air Force before drones can be deployed for aerial filming.
At the same time, Quidich, which has been engaged with BCCI, can only operate the RPAS models as per the Standard Operating Procedures notified in January.
“BCCI shall ensure that only trained, experienced and bonafide personnel operates the RPAS as per the approved SOP. Subsequently, the RPAS operator shall ensure that remote flight crew are trained through approved FTOs/ RPTOs,” the Ministry said.
The conditions specified by the Ministry include that that the photographs and videographs, taken through drones will only be used by BCCI and that it will be responsible for the safety and security of data collected through RPAS.
“The operation of RPAS shall be restricted to daylight or well-lit conditions (above 2000 lux), within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) in uncontrolled airspace only and upto height of 200 ft (AGL) max only,” the Ministry added.
It has also prescribed various safety measures that will need to be followed by BCCI and Quidich, which include not operating drones in the vicinity of the airports and ensuring no hazardous materials are carried in the payload of RPA among others.
“The operator shall intimate the schedule of operation [location and date of operation] to DGCA [as and when available] well in advance for conducting safety oversight. In this regard, BCCI shall ensure access to DGCA are provided to perform this function,” the official statement added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.