Shimla: Skye Air, a Drone Delivery tech firm and the Department of Information Technology, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to announce their collaborative intent to enable and promote medical and agri-commodity deliveries within the state.
As a part of the strategic partnership, Skye Air has initiated a 3-day long BVLOS trial in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh to connect over 6 PHC/CHCs and the Area Hospitals via multiple flights between points covering an aerial distance of 170 kms throughout the trial. The Drone delivery tech firm is using its most reliable UAV, Skye Ship One to facilitate real-time deliveries of vaccines and medicines within a specified temperature range of 2-8 degree Celsius. There will be several reverse logistic flights which shall also be done in order to help the adoption of drone technology to enable cost effective deliveries within the state.
The flights, equipped with consignments of medical supplies flew beyond at an altitude of 400 feet above ground level in a designated Green Zone of Chamba district. The flights took place at 3 air corridors – Chaned, Tissa and Mehla demonstrating the diversity of Skye Ship One adopting different temperature zones, steep mountain range and air-pockets.
On the occasion, Mr. Mukesh Repaswal, Director, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh said, “The use of drones can be a critical intervention in improving the ease of access to services in mountainous and remote regions of Himachal Pradesh. The demonstration in Chamba will help in ascertaining the advantages of drone use in medicine delivery and benefits of drone enabled governance. We look forward for the successful conduct of the BVLOS trials in Chamba and further collaboration with Skye Air to expand drone based delivery ecosystem in Himachal Pradesh to medical and agri-commodity deliveries.”
Commenting on the association, Mr. Swapnik Jakkampundi, Co-founder, Skye Air said “We are elated with our new partnership with the Govt. of Himachal Pradesh and we look forward to bring better healthcare accessibility within the remotest parts of the state. As a beginning, we shall be conducting around 25 flights during the trial phase taking up hard weather and terrain challenges. In the coming months, as we look forward to enable commercial flights in the district, we shall be able to directly benefit over 5.19 lakh people by better healthcare accessibility and creating local employments in the drone delivery ecosystem. These are times to remember when a revolutionary technology is setting up pace to impact millions of people.”
Several senior officials from the Chamba District including, Shri D.C. Rana, Deputy Commissioner, Chamba; Shri Amit Mehra, ADM Chamba and Shri Naveen Tanwar, SDM Chamba witnessed the first drone delivery flight taking off in the beautiful valley of Chamba.
Commenting on the occasion, Shri D.C. Rana, Deputy Commissioner, Chamba said “Today sets a remarkable day with Chamba District taking the lead in deploying new age drone delivery technology by Skye Air to enable better healthcare accessibility in far flung and hard to reach areas. The drones can go for up to 100 kms aerial to deliver medicines and further in Disaster relief activities for package deliveries as well.”
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