Government may restrict cameras while gliding in the wake of terror threats

NEW DELHI: In the age of Google Earth, where close-up aerial shots of any location are available online, government restrictions may soon ban you from taking your camera along for panoramic shots from a hot air balloon or a powered hand-glider.

There will be strict punishment for anyone carrying any photography or video equipment, explosives or weapons on board hot air balloons, powered hand-gliders or micro-light aircraft as part of new guidelines to be firmed up next month in the wake of terror threats from low-flying objects.

The guidelines have been in the works since 2013, after the Indian Air Force warned that there were nearly 325 airstrips from where para-gliders can be launched. They cannot be detected by radar and can be monitored by the naked eye, leading to possibility of being misused for terror activity. The Centre has to firm up its policy before October 5, when the Delhi high court will hear a petition from a person who had applied for licence for operating hand-gliders and has been waiting for five years for the guidelines to be formulated.

The deliberations on regulating the sector followed an Intelligence Bureau input that LeT had acquired para gliding equipment to carry out terror acts in India and the IAF warning that equipments of adventure flying were easily available online and gliders have a range of about 10 km and can fly at about 5,000 feet. The home ministry has not given security clearances since 2010 for procurement of power-gliders referred by the DGCA in the absence of clear guidelines framed for regulation of adventure flying activities. MHA wants the areas of operation and flying of such objects to be away from sensitive installations.