In a first, Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) on Saturday pressed drones into service to sanitise sensitive and inaccessible places in Dhanbad amid Covid-19 pandemic.
The BCCL has hired two drones from a Hyderabad-based company under their corporate social responsibility. On the first day, the BCCl’s dedicated Covid hospital, nursing hostel and nursing schools were sanitised, officials said.
Director personnel of BCCL PR Mallikarjun said, “It is impossible to sanitise inaccessible and vast areas. However, drones remove the hurdle by covering wide range of area in few minutes.”
He said the World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has already approved sanitisation through drones. A drone has the capacity of loading 10 litre chemical which can last for 15 minutes.
In the second phase of sanitisation, drones will be used in Koylanagar ( BCCL headquarters), Karmik Nagar and Jagjivan Nagar, said Mallikarjun .
A senior officer of District Disaster Management (DDM) said the BCCL hired the drones on personal capacity, and the district administration was also mulling over its use.