MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – India has started using drones to monitor public gatherings and events that are difficult for law enforcement bodies to control from the ground, Time magazine reported.
“The misconception that drones are meant more for destructive purposes seems to still linger around,” Shinil Shekar, head of sales and marketing at Airpix, a Mumbai-based drone company, was quoted by Time as saying, “And it is important that people be more educated about their potential civilian applications.”
Drone cameras are used in places, where, due to their narrowness, law enforcement officers cannot access mass gatherings.
Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have recently been put into action in Saharanpur in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The drones provide a method of control and monitoring that has never been used before. A land dispute followed by a riot occurred in late July between the local Sikh and Muslim communities, which inspired the state police to ask an entrepreneur to help monitor and advise on security operations using drones.
Previously, drones have been used in disaster management, last year playing a low-key but invaluable role in relief operations when flash floods killed thousands and displaced many more in the hilly and inhospitable terrain of Uttarakhand.
Time reported that the use of drones comes as a particular advantage in chaotic and overpopulated India.
