Owners told to submit them at concerned police stations

Srinagar: The government on Sunday banned flying drones or sale and purchase of drones in Srinagar.

An order issued by Deputy commissioner Srinagar Aijaz Asad said those who possess drones should immediately submit drones to police stations.

“To secure aerial space near vital installations and highly populated areas it is imperative to discontinue the use of drones in all social and cultural gatherings to eliminate any risk of injury to life and damage to property,” it said.

The order has been issued under section 144 of CrPc. The order says decentralised air space access has to be regulated in view of the recent incidents of misuse of drones posing threat to security infrastructure as reported by the media and other reliable sources.

“Directorate general of civil aviation 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.,” it added.

The order said the government departments using drones for mapping, surveys and surveillance in agricultural, environmental conservation and disaster mitigation sectors should inform the concerned police station before undertaking any such activity in public interest.

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