Thursday, February 23, 2017

Unauthorised drones keep cops on their toes

Chennai: The strictures imposed by the police on flying of drones do not seem to have had much of a deterring effect on enthusiasts, who continue to pursue their hobby in the city and suburbs.

In 2015, the police banned the flying of drones after a 29-year-old resident of Foreshore Estate was arrested. The drone he was operating was fitted with cameras and had fallen on the roof of a service apartment in MRC Nagar.

The police said that the Director General of Civil Aviation was in the process of framing guidelines for the use of drones / unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by civilians. The aviation regulator was to issue operator permits and unique identification numbers to drones to enable air traffic controllers (ATCs) to track and identify any device in the sky at a height of 200 ft or more. But those operating drones would still require police permission, the police mandated.

Despite these restrictions, only a few days ago, four young men were rounded up by the police after they flew drones fitted with cameras over the Cooum and Chintadripet without police authorisation. They were let off with a warning after they told police officers that the drone was being used for a project as part of their academics.

Meanwhile, drones have become increasingly popular in Chennai. The devices are frequently used for video coverage of marriages and in temple festivals. In the weddings, drones are deployed by videographers for capturing visuals of guests arriving and then to pan the camera to other points such as the wedding hall and dais.
23/02/17 R. Sivaraman/The Hindu
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