Ministry Warns Non-Registered Drone Owners In India To Register Before Jan 31 Or Face Penalties
You surely would have come across drone footage with picturesque and breathtaking imagery, tempting you to start collecting funds for a drone for your ownself. However this aspiration in India hasn't been so simple.
India hasn't been the most flexible when it comes to using or owning a drone. Due to severe security issues, the Ministry of Aviation has a full-on registration process for anyone wanting to fly a drone in India, followed by a tight set of rules and regulations.
However, it looks like many in India haven't been following these norms and have been flying them willy-nilly. And the authorities have been noticing the same. They've now issued a strict notification for all drone owners to get their drones registered as per the norms, or else face strict penalties
As stated in the official press release, “It was brought to the notice of the Government of India that such drones and drone operators are not complying with the CAR mentioned above. The conditions of No Permission-No Takeoff (NPNT) as envisaged in the aforesaid CAR are not mandatory for this purpose whereas if drones are operated without due permission, the aforesaid process of CAR is violated. The deadline to submit the required information to the Government is 31st January 2020,” said the ministry in a press release."
For this registration, two things are crucial -- a DAN or Drone Acknowledgement Number and an OAN or Ownership Acknowledgement Number. In order to register, you need to head to the Digital Sky website and click on the registration tab.
You'll get the OAN after adding documents and registering online. In order to register, you'll require documents like the passport, Aadhaar card etc.
Registration will also require good quality drone images from all the angles, along with a close-up image of the drone's serial number -- all while the drone is besides a physical measuring scale to get an idea of the drone's dimensions.
Once registered, you will need to use the same OAN to register your drone and generate DAN.
As per the norms, every drone will require you to get a new DAN number. However they all will be registered under the same OAN.