Drones being used to sanitize Varanasi Smart City
Varanasi Smart City has hired Chennai-based ‘Garuda Aerospace Private Limited for air spray of sanitizer through drones airlifted from Chennai through Air-India Cargo flights with special permission from Ministry of Civil Aviation. Spraying of sanitizer through Drones is prioritized for Hot spots and Containment areas followed by Isolation areas, Shelter Homes, Quarantined areas, and especially those places where manual spraying is difficult.
The Drone filled with the chemical solution are being flown in the city using a remote-control device and it sprays Sanitizer through its four Nozzles. Hand held devices having GIS map are being used to control and record these dornes’ flight path and the area to be covered by them. These drones are operated through vehicles fitted with GPS and GSM based wireless cameras.  The entire movement of Drones are centrally monitored from the Kashi Integrated Command and Control Centre, which has been converted to COVID-19 War Room.
Dependent on the total area in acres that’s covered by the drones, the average cost of these operations range between Rs.8000 to Rs.12000 per drone per day.Specially designed for spraying pesticides for agricultural use, these drones are currently being used for spraying sanitizer during the ongoing COVID- 19 pandemic situation.
