Hot Air Balloons & Drones Banned in Delhi Ahead of Independence Day as Aerial Threat Looms Large

On 27 June, a drone attack led to two minor explosions at an Indian Air Force station (IAF) in the Pathankot District of Jammu and Kashmir. Following the attack, drones have repeatedly been spotted hovering in the region. Indian security forces suspect the involvement of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

A month ahead of India's 75th Independence Day on 15 August, the Delhi government has banned flying aerial objects like drones and hot air balloons in the airspace above the national capital. 

While such preventive measures are undertaken every year before Independence Day celebrations in Delhi, this year security forces are on extra alert.

In an official statement shared with Sputnik, Delhi Police Commissioner Balaji Srivastava said that the capital's airspace is being thoroughly monitored and aerial platforms like drones, paragliders, paramotors, hang gliders, microlight aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, and quadcopters among others, are now prohibited from taking to the skies above Delhi.

"It has been reported that certain criminal, anti-social elements, or terrorists inimical to India may pose a threat to the safety of the general public, dignitaries, and vital installations by the use of sub-conventional aerial platforms. Anyone found defying the order and flying any object in the sky of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi before Independence Day shall be punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)", Srivastava said. 

Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) says disobedience of government orders against actions that may cause danger to human life, health, or safety is an offence punishable by a fine or jail for up to six months. 

Indian security agencies including the Air Force as well as the Border Security Force (BSF) have beefed up monitoring the airspace around India's international borders. 

"Over the last 15 days, our security forces have sighted six UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, in our territory around the international border near Pakistan", an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer told Sputnik earlier this week, requesting anonymity.

Every year on Independence Day, Delhi along with other Indian cities deck up in colourful lights to mark the country's breakaway from over 200 years of British colonial rule in 1947. 

On 15 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the national flag on Delhi's iconic Red Fort and delivering an address to the nation.