BENGALURU: The Karnataka Government has been given permission by the Civil Aviation ministry to deploy drones for aerial surveys in Bengaluru for the creation of urban property ownership records. The state is among 10 entities to get conditional permission to use drones for various purposes.
According to Revenue Department officials, a survey to create property identity cards has been going on since the last two years, but the exercise had taken a back seat due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Munish Moudgil, Commissioner, Survey, Settlement and Land Records, said that around 6,000 properties were surveyed in Pattabiramanagar using drones. At present, a model is being created for the exercise and testing is going on. The State Government has to take a final call, he added.
The department is working on creating urban property ownership records and maintaining them. The exercise is being undertaken to ascertain details of each property and the changes made to them. Principal Secretary to the Revenue Department, Tushar Girinath, said that assessing properties is part of the exercise to update information. In the state, five districts were chosen for the survey and it is now being planned to extend it to all 31 districts. The Centre’s nod will give a fillip to the exercises now.
He said using drones will speed up the process, where otherwise, physical surveys will have to be done. It will help in surveying various land parcels. There is sufficient funds for the exercise, he added.
According to a Civil Aviation ministry statement, among other entities which have been given the nod to use drones include Mahindra and Mahindra for “drone-based agricultural trials” and use of drones for precision spraying on paddy and hot pepper crop in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh; Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to conduct “perimeter surveillance” of its steel plant in Burnpur, West Bengal; Bayer Crop Science for conducting “drone-based agricultural research activities” and use of drones for agricultural spraying; the National Health Mission in Mumbai for conducting experimental beyond visual line-of-sight drone flights to deliver essential healthcare items in tribal areas of Jawhar in Palghar district of Maharashtra. Apart from this, a few organisations from Gujarat, Gangtok, Chennai, and Pune have also been given permission for drone use.