No prior permissions for flying drones for state, military and entertainment purposes will be required soon, as the cabinet today approved “The Drone Registration and Flying Guideline, 2020”.

The approval came from a regular weekly meeting held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

“No permission is required in case of flying drones for the purposes of amusement or play as well as state and military purposes, as the cabinet today approved “The Drone Registration and Flying Guideline, 2020″ keeping such a provision,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told a news briefing after the cabinet meeting was held virtually.

The premier joined the virtual meeting from her official Gono Bhaban residence, while her cabinet colleagues were connected from the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital.

Anwarul added that the guideline has been formulated after seven to eight months consultation with the concerned people and experts on the subject.

The proposed guideline has earmarked four categories in regard to flying of the drones, he said, adding that for Ka and Gha categories, no prior permission will be needed in case of flying drones meant for entertainment, state or military purposes.

The weight of any drone which will be flying for amusement as toys should not exceed five kilogrammes and cannot be flown above 500 feet from the ground, he said.

The government’s top bureaucrat said flying drones for commercial purposes such as conducting a survey of any land and non-commercial purposes such as conducting a survey for research or writing any book will require prior permission from the concerned authorities.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) will define the authority from which permission should be taken for flying drones.

Replying to a query, he said locations are divided into green, yellow and red zones and the key point installations (KPI’s) will be considered as the red zone.

The cabinet secretary said prior permission must be needed in case of flying drones over KPI’s such as airports and military areas.

Taking permission from only the air traffic authority is not enough to fly drones over the KPI’s as permission from the particular KPI authority is also needed to this end.

Anwarul said that the cabinet also approved a draft of the Local Government (City Corporation) (Amendment) Act, 2020, keeping a provision of holding polls to any city corporation within three months instead of the existing six months before the expiry of its tenure.

It gave consent in principle to the draft of Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Repeal) Act, 2020 as Bangladesh Biman has been turned into a company in 2011 and is being run under company law, he added.