Tamil Nadu municipal administration minister SP Velumani on Tuesday inaugurated the project for drone mapping of properties, thereby making Chennai Corporation the first municipal body in the country to start such a project, as per a report by Pradeep Kumar in The Times of India. 

The mapping project will be executed by Hyderabad-based RSI Softech India Pvt Ltd. 

While two hexacopters will be used for the project, two quadcopters will be kept on standby, the report says. 

Each of the hexacopters will cost almost Rs 21 lakh and the total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 6.43 crore. 

The city area of 462 sq. km. is expected to be covered in 120 days. 

Five images will be captured in one second by the drones, which will be fitted with a high resolution camera and the images will be superimposed on each other to generate a 3D map of the city, the report adds. 

Velumani told ToI that for the mapping process to begin, the consent of various departments including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Ministry of Home and Defence, Intelligence Bureau, the Chennai city police and the district administrations of Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur has to be obtained. 

The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) will supervise the mapping process. 

Before the images captured by the drone are verified by the Ministry of Defence, they will be stored securely in Ripon Buildings with an official of the rank of executive engineer overseeing it. 

"The mapping will facilitate planning of development work for the city on a priority basis," Velumani said.

In April this year, the BBMP had mooted a plan for deploying drones to survey and 3-D map buildings in Bengaluru to check the non-payment of property tax in the city. 

The BBMP had then reportedly included the drone plan in its proposal for smart city planning, to be submitted to the Union government later.