Government to use drones to map E-way

In an unprecedented move, the Maharashtra government will use unmanned aerial systems (UAS), known as drones, for mapping purposes in aligning the 744-km-long Mumbai-Nagpur Super Expressway.

The state-run Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is exploring the idea of using drones, as it feels this would save time and prevent human interference, which would help it to start the work on the expressway quickly. Incidentally, the super expressway is chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ pet project.

The MSRDC has appointed five consultants to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) to finalise the alignment and identify the feasibility of the constructing an expressway between the financial capital Mumbai and Mr Fadnavis’ hometown Nagpur.

“One out of the five consultants has already started using drones for preparing a control mapping system after which a digital map will be ready. The drone survey is currently being conducted for the fifth package that is of Mumbai division from where the Expressway starts, which is Padgha road near Navi Mumbai up to Ghoti near Nashik. For the other packages — Nashik, Amravati, Marathwada and Nagpur — a decision will be taken on using drones in order to complete the survey faster,” said a senior MSRDC official.

The drones will be released in the daytime where they will capture pictures and videos of all the kind of challenges to the project including natural reservoirs like rivers, green cover areas and the private land owners whose land will have to be acquired for the project.

The MSRDC has to acquire around 9,000 hectares of land for the construction of expressway for which it is going to rope in communication experts to facilitate better communication with villagers in order to successfully carry out the land acquisition.

“We should have started using drones much earlier because drones cannot be used during the monsoon. The work will be carried out when the weather is clear. The consultants are not going to charge anything extra for using the drone technology for the survey and it is included in the package, which was pre-decided while awarding the work of acting as a consultant.

The estimated cost of the six-lane expressway is Rs 30,000 crore for which the state government may take loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

It will connect the financial capital of the country with Nagpur and will also pass through backward areas of the state such as Sinnar, Jalna, Shendra, Waluj, Wardha and Amravati.

The expressway will also have IT parks, smart cities and educational hubs along the expressway wherever possible.

The MSRDC also has plans to introduce closed-circuit television camera surveillance and Wi-Fi on the expressway.