By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Apr 28 (IANS): Drone-as-a-Service company Garuda Aerospace starting from Wednesday will fly its drones spraying anti-coronavirus disinfectant to sanitise government hospitals and other public buildings in Bengaluru Central area as a social cause, said the top company official.

The company will also look at the possibility of flying Covid-19 vaccine vials using drones in Karnataka, he added.

Affected severely by coronavirus infection, Karnataka has gone under 14-day Covid-19 lockdown starting April 27.

"At the initiative of P.C.Mohan, Lok Sabha Member from Bengaluru Central constituency, we will be starting the Covid-19 sanitisation programme for three days- April 27-30- in Bengaluru as our social commitment without charging any service fee," Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Managing Director of city-based Garuda Aerospace, told IANS on Monday.

Jayaprakash said the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagra Palike (BBMP) has given the company necessary permission for drone based sanitization of public buildings and various hospitals.

He said the Bengaluru police too have given permission to spray anti-coronavirus disinfectants in some other areas in the city.

The Bengaluru Central Member of Parliament AMohan also wants to look at the feasibility of drone based delivery of Covid-19 vaccine and emergency medical supplies in government hospitals in Bengaluru.

Recently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted a conditional exemption to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for testing the feasibility of drones delivering vaccines, Jayaprakash said.

Last year when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the country, the city based Garuda Aerospace bagged drone based sanitization orders from several municipal corporations and smart cities like Varanasi, Rourkela, Raipur, Chennai and Hyderabad.

The company also had bagged contracts from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana governments for spraying anti-locust pesticide in the state when there was locust swarm attack last year.