KP govt approves drone tech use for policing

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday approved a Rs 500 million project for promoting modern policing through employing drone technology.

The nod was given by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan while chairing a meeting on employing drone technology in police, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Mining and Agriculture sectors, said a handout.

Chief Secretary Shehzad Khan Bangash, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, secretaries for the Home and Tribal Affairs Department, Finance and other officials attended the meeting. The chief minister directed the relevant officials to work out the necessary modalities within 15 days.

He added that initially the project would be implemented in the Police Department and PDMA to be followed by the implementation in the Mining and Agriculture sectors. The participants of the meeting were informed that initially drone technology would be employed in the divisional headquarters.

The project will incur Rs500 million cost and is expected to help facilitate operations, easy and safe monitoring of crime scenes, observance of active threats, delivery of weapons, operational surveillance, traffic control and handling of mob and processions surveillance.

The chief minister directed the preparation of the legal framework for successful implementation of the project, identification of areas for implementation of the technology and preparation of PC-1 for the project to be completed within the specified timeline.

He asked the officials to constitute a working group to work out other areas and sectors for the possible use of drone technology.