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Itanagar, Jan. 21 (PTI): The Arunachal Pradesh government is looking to take a lead role in promoting drone technology in the northeast region and will soon execute pilot projects for healthcare and afforestation using such innovation, according to an official statement issued on Friday.
Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, in a meeting in New Delhi during the day, reviewed the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles for last-mile delivery and a roadmap to integrate the drone technology into the state's plans for development of the healthcare supply chain and other applications, it said.
The state administration faces challenges to transport critical medicines to primary and secondary health centres due to rocky terrain of the northeastern state.
Drones can play an important role in delivering medicines in a short span of time and help save lives, according to the statement.
"The state is looking to use drones for seed-bombing for afforestation in alignment with its vision of increasing green cover. An area shall soon be earmarked for conducting a pilot project," it said.
Seed-bombing is a technique meant to introduce vegetation by throwing or dropping seed balls on barren land.
The government is also planning to open a drone training academy here as the move will enable people to acquire technical skills for unmanned aerial vehicles and create employment opportunities, the official statement said.
The development came after the liberalised Drone Rules 2021 and a production-linked incentive scheme for the UAV were notified by the central government in 2021 with a vision to make India a global hub for such technology by 2030.