The Srinagar district administration, on July 4, issued an order, citing the ban on the use and possession of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles in the area. This order comes after a week when two Indian Air Force personnel were injured in a twin drone blast on the technical airport in Jammu.

“To secure the aerial space near the vital installations and highly populated areas, it is imperative to discontinue the use of drones in all social and cultural gatherings to eliminate any risk of injury to the life and damage to property,” Srinagar District Magistrate Mohammad Aijaz said in an order.

The order was issued under Section 144 of the Cr.PC. It says that in view of the recent episodes of misuse of drones, decentralised airspace access has to be regulated. The drones pose a threat to security infrastructure, several media reports said.

“Keeping in view the security situation apart from concerns of breach of privacy, nuisance and trespass, it is extremely dangerous to let unmanned aerial vehicles wander around in the skies within the territorial jurisdiction of Srinagar,” the order further read.

The order further mentioned that persons who already are in possession of the drones to report to the local police station.

“Moreover, the government departments using drones for mapping, surveys and surveillance in agricultural, environment conservation and disaster mitigation sector shall inform the local police station before undertaking any such activity in public interest,” it said.

With this order, Srinagar became the second district in J&K to ban the use of drones. Earlier this week, the border district of Rajouri and Kathua issued the same orders.

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On Sunday, two explosions were reported from the Indian Air Force station in Jammu within minutes of each other. Following that security forces averted a similar attack within 24 hours by firing on unidentified drones over the Kaluchak military base in Jammu.

Media reports suggest that investigations have pointed that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) may have a role in the drone attack.