Coal India arm to fly drones in fields by August, will buy two initially

Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), the technical arm of Coal India, has decided to buy drones to initially monitor operational planning of mines and gather data from the country’s entire coal mining area of around 20,000 square kilometres.

The CMPDI board has approved the purchase of two drones and will opt for another five at a later date. It is expected that by the end of August this year, the two drones will be procured and put to use. One of them will be deployed in South-Eastern Coalfields area and the other will remain at CMPDI’s command, to be used as per the needs from the other Coal India subsidiaries.