Centre Okays Free Drone Ops In 30 ‘Green Sites’ In Odisha

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry has granted permission of “no-permission-no-take off” (NPNT) compliant drone operations at 166 additional green zones to facilitate, smoothen and promote drone operations in the country. The approved sites allow drone usage up to 400 ft above ground level.

These zones are in addition to the 66 green zone sites approved earlier.

Under NPNT compliance, every remotely piloted aircraft (except Nano) has to obtain valid permission through the Digital Sky platform before operating in India. The framework mandates users to register on the online portal that acts as the national unmanned traffic management system for remotely piloted aircraft.

However, flying in these approved ‘green-zones’ will require only intimation of the time and location of the flights via the Digital Sky portal or the app.

Of the 166 newly approved green sites, the maximum of 30 each are in Odisha and Jharkhand.

Among the Odisha sites, 6 are in Angul, 1 in Bhawanipatna, 1 in Koraput, 7 in Padmapur, 7 in Patnagarh, 2 in Rayagada, 1 in Sundargarh and 5 in Talcher town.