Drones to monitor Ganga pollution in Uttar Pradesh

On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched four drones in Varanasi for curbing pollution in Ganga, keeping a vigil in containment zones and delivering medicines and other essential things to the needy. Varanasi Municipal Commissioner Gaurang Rathi told the media that they had arranged four types of drones for efficient monitoring during the second wave of Covid-19 in partnership with Garuda Aerospace Private Limited, Chennai, under the Smart City project. These drones are equipped with high-resolution cameras that will help in the monitoring of the river Ganga stream and ghats along with it. The drones could fly at a height of 120 metres and can move at a speed of 10-12 m per sec. The photographs and the videos captured by the drones would let the officials keep vigil and help the judicious deployment of personnel and resources and make other strategies. These drones can also deliver medicines and other essentials in containment zones in case of emergencies. Rathi said that drones could be used to relay administrative orders and spread awareness, besides surveillance in containment zones, as they are equipped with public addresses. Officials carried out sanitisation of more than 2,750 acres with the help of drones during the lockdown last year. The CM appreciated Rathi for using drones efficiently for these purposes. The officials said that the drone that is used in sanitisation has a 10-litre tank filled with sodium hypochlorite solution. The drones are used in the containment zones where taking heavy machines is not possible for sanitisation. The surveillance through drones would help check contamination of holy water, as told by the smart city officials. Many bodies have been found floating in the river Ganga and had created a row in the past fortnight. Police teams were deployed on boats, and massive patrolling has started to prevent the immersion of bodies in the river. The administration made arrangements for helping families lacking resources in proper cremation of bodies. Image Source Also read: Govt grants exemption to conduct “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” experiments Also read: Drones: A valuable tool for the construction jobsite