BENGALURU: Drones hovered over the pandemic-stricken streets of Jayanagar 3rd Block in Bengaluru on Thursday morning, spraying anti-microbial organic disinfectant over empty stretches. The disinfectant is said to have proved beneficial in controlling the virus spread in Chennai. The solution will be sprayed across more than 30 wards of South Division in Bengaluru over the next few days, with the State government permitting trials.
The drones have been developed as a common man’s initiative by Team Daksha of MIT Campus on Anna University. They were mentored by Tamil actor Thalaiva Ajith Kumar and Bengaluru-based NGO Sugardhana.
Dr Karthik Narayana, founder of Sugardhana, told TNIE, “This is a common man’s initiative. I am a student of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and we believed that drones can be used for various benefits and not just for surveillance. This technology has proved successful in Chennai in its fight against Covid, and we are glad to be mentored by Ajith Kumar sir,” he said.
Dr Karthik said in Chennai, 200 to 300 drones sprayed an anti microbial disinfectant solution made of citrus-based fruit extracts over two areas — TVK Nagar and Royapuram — which had heavy caseload.
“The Tamil Nadu government itself has declared that this technology helped contain the virus spread, and no fresh cases were reported from these areas after the solution was sprayed for three days continuously. The report is with IISc in Bengaluru, if verification is needed,” he said.
In Bengaluru, the BBMP gave the team permission about three days earlier, and they have decided to start from South Division. The initiative was launched on Thursday by Revenue Minister R Ashoka and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, along with area Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy and Soumya Reddy.