An unmanned aerial vehicle, which was being tested by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, crashed at Doreyagalhalli village in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district on Wednesday morning.
According to sources, the drone, which was being tested by DRDO’s Aeronautical Test Range in Kudapur village nearby, came down near a farmland around 9 a.m. An official said it was a small practice drone that went out of control and landed outside the perimeter of the ATR.
While DRDO maintained that no damage was done, Environment Support Group, which had filed petitions against the sprawling 10,000-acre Science City on Amruth Mahal Kaval grasslands, said: “The incident brings to light the high risk latent to the project that is being implemented with little or no regard for applicable norms and standards, and the law, in this ecologically fragile and densely populated region.”
ESG believes with the premises playing host to sensitive nuclear enrichment centre run by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, drone crashes pose a grave threat to the area.
