Can drones be flown to capture aerial views of old Secretariat?

Hyderabad: Can we or can we not, is the question that has been popping up in the minds of enthusiastic drone flyers who want to capture the new Secretariat buildings which are under construction. It can be recalled that the Telangana government demolished the old secretariat buildings in a bid to come up with new building, and shifted the departments to nearby Burgula Ramakrishna Rao (BRK) Bhavan in August 2019.

N Lakshmi Prasad, an engineering graduate, speaking to The Hans India, said that before 2018, the rules of restrictive operations of drones were not strictly enforced.

"Occasionally, my friends and I used to fly small drones to capture the aerial view of Necklace Road, Buddha statue etc. Sometimes, we would also capture NTR Ghat and secretariat buildings too," he said, adding that several enthusiastic students and event managers, without knowing the rules and regulations, would operate the drones.

However, the rules have become stringent after August 2018 with the new regulations coming into force. "We cannot fly the drones like earlier," said S V Kumar, who has taken interest in drone technologies while studying B Tech electronics.

As per the new set of rules that have come into force, there is an exception to licensing of drone operations only in the case of nano category drones weighing 250 grams or less, being operated less than 50 feet above the ground level in uncontrolled airspace as well as in the enclosed premises. Similarly, the rule applies to the micro category of drones of more than 250 grams and up to 2 kilograms operating below 200 feet in the uncontrolled and enclosed airspace.

But, the operators have to inform the local police official 24 hours prior to the actual timing of operation. That apart, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) bars operation of drones within the three kilometers radius of State Secretariat Complex, Prasad said. Besides, the Remote Pilot Operators (RPOs) have to register themselves on the Digital Sky Platform of the DGCA.

"As per the existing rules, we cannot operate like earlier as it is a prohibited area, and at the same time, we don't know whether we can operate once again to capture the aerial views of Secretariat area since those buildings no more exist," he added.