Greater Hyderabad civic body to use drones for better vigilance

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is planning to come down heavily on encroachments onto city green spaces and lakes as well as illegal constructions using drones. The corporation’s directorate of enforcement, vigilance and disaster management will also use drones as a pilot project for disaster management in case of urban flooding and building collapse. The civic body is planning to form a team especially for drone monitoring soon if the project yields results. A drone, belonging to Cyberabad police, was tested on Thursday for the project. “To save the park in MLA Colony located in Banjara Hills road number 12 which was encroached upon, we had to measure the land and check for deviations manually to take action, but with drones the work will be easier. If drones fetch us result, I will send a proposal to procure drones and form an exclusive drone team,” said VishwajitKampati, director of EVDM, GHMC. In case of a heavy downpour or a hailstorm, the drones will come handy, added the official. “We can check the condition of people stuck in case of a building collapse. Dilapidated buildings can be identified to alert people. We can also identify heavily inundated areas, monitor uprooted trees, status of hoardings and the roads which need to be cleared in case of waterlogging to ensure seamless traffic,” said a GHMC official.