NTCA awaiting MoD nod for drone monitoring of tiger reserves

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is awaiting a final nod from the Ministry of Defence to start its ambitious drone monitoring project for combating wildlife poaching and man-animal conflict.

"The Ministry had asked us to get clearances from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Home Ministry. We have got them recently and now a final approval is awaited from the MoD," Wildlife Institute of India's (WII) scientist K Ramesh, in-charge of the project, told PTI from Dehradun.

NTCA had last week signed an MoU with WII to start monitoring by drones in five tiger reserves of Panna, Jim Corbett National Park, Kaziranga, Sundarbans and the Sathyamangalam forest of Tamil Nadu.

A budget of Rs 3.5 crore has been earmarked for the project.

Hoping that they will get the approval in the next couple of months, Ramesh said flying missions can start operations in the next six months.

Fitted with GPS device and hi-resolution cameras, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones, are fast becoming a necessary hi-tech tool in wildlife management all over the world.