Centre to procure 200 drones to expedite land mapping
Sep 23, 2021
By Saurabh Trivedi
New Delhi [India], September 23 : The Central government has decided to procure 200 drones under the Survey of Villages for Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Area (Svamitva) project for terrain mapping in plain and undulating areas and the tender for the same was issued last week.
The government aims to complete the survey and mapping of about 6.62 lakh villages in the country by the end of 2024.
The Survey of India intends to purchase professional survey-grade UAVs, drones that will help to provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has issued a bid document for the procurement of drones for the Project.
"Professional Survey Grade UAV/Drone-based System fitted with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Optical sensors with all accessories and software. The maximum delivery period for supplying 200 UAV/Drones shall not be more than 10 weeks from the date notification of award," stated the document.
The document also mentioned that the bidders, who are interested to import the drones, would have to strictly comply or follow the guidelines of the Ministry of Civil Aviation notification dated March 12.
The project, Svamitva, a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of the Panchayati Raj, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on National Panchayati Raj Day, April 24 after successful completion of the pilot phase of the scheme in nine states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, MP, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh. Under the pilot project, the government has mapped and completed the survey in 61,077 villages.
The scheme was launched for the creation of accurate land records for rural planning and to reduce property-related disputes, by mapping of land parcels using drone technology. It is aimed to bring financial stability to the citizens in rural India by enabling them to use their property as a financial asset for taking loans and avail of other financial benefits.
