Drone carrying package crashes in Gurugram locality; FIR against company
Gurugram, Feb 17: A drone on way to deliver a package hit a dish antenna, triggering a scare in a residential locality here.
The incident took place in G Block of South City 2 residential area around 5 pm on Thursday, police said.
The drone was being flown by Skye Air at a time when prohibitory orders were in force due to Chief Minister M L Khattar's visit in the district and a case has been registered against the company, they said.
The RWA of the society informed the Sector 50 police station about the incident and a police team reached the spot.
In a statement, logistics solution provider Skye Air said an obstacle in the drone's path prompted an "emergency landing in a nearby open area". "Unfortunately, due to the uneven surface, the drone collided with a dish antenna," causing the UAV to topple on the rooftop, it said.
In an earlier statement, the company said the pilot, after getting to know about the prohibitory orders, "attempted to make an emergency landing on a building in compliance with the law".
Use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones etc.) in Gurugram district was banned on February 15 and 16 in accordance with the prohibitory orders enforced under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Based on a complaint, an FIR was registered against Skye Air under Indian Penal Code sections 188 ( disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 287 (negligent conduct to respect to machinery), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) at Sector 50 police station on Thursday night.
It has been told that the drone crashed due to some technical fault, the FIR said.
"We have taken the damaged drone into possession and are investigating. Action will be taken against the company in accordance with law," said Inspector Jitender Kumar, SHO of Sector 50 police station.
A Skye Air spokesperson stated that the company has obtained all required approvals and permissions for drone operations along the approved route.
"During yesterday's flight at 4.15 PM, our UAS sensors detected an obstacle obstructing the path, prompting an emergency landing in a nearby open area. Unfortunately, due to the uneven surface, the drone collided with a dish antenna, causing it (drone) to topple.
"Our team promptly responded, securing the site and taking necessary actions for safe retrieval. Subsequently, we conducted a thorough internal investigation and submitted comprehensive reports to both the DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation," the spokesperson said.
The company also said the information about the enforcement of Section 144 in the district was only disseminated by the Gurugram DC at 5.41 PM on X and other social media platforms. "No such information was provided to the drone operators beforehand. We received this information only after the incident occurred," the spokesperson said.
In an initial statement, a company spokesperson said the drone was on its routine flight, and around 5 pm, "we received a notification on Twitter (now X) that Section 144 had been imposed". "Consequently, our pilot attempted to make an emergency landing on a building in compliance with the law, but the building's surface was not smooth, causing the drone to hit the plant pots," the spokesperson said.
Skye Air entered into a partnership with an e-commerce platform this month for delivery of packages by drones.
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Loco pilots' union alleges manipulation of working hours to hide overutilisation
New Delhi (PTI): The loco pilots' union has alleged that various railway zones are manipulating the working hours of train drivers by falsely entering duty breaks during their 12 to 16-hour-long trips in the online Crew Management System (CMS) to hide their overutilisation.
As per railway norms, a loco pilot cannot be asked to work more than 9 hours at a stretch and no more than 11 hours in total from sign-on to sign-off. Since 2021, the Safety Department of the Railway Board has instructed all zonal railways that 80 per cent of trips should be completed within the 9-hour limit.
The Railway Ministry had earlier stated that it has not only initiated aggressive recruitment of loco pilots but also created several amenities for them, including urinal facilities in over 900 locomotives, air-conditioning systems in over 7,000 locomotives, and upgraded all 558 running rooms across the rail network.
The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) stated that safety regulations prohibit overburdening loco pilots with excessive duty hours. They alleged that rail administrations are regularly violating these rules to compensate for a 15–20 per cent staff shortage.
"Though this illegal practice is happening in many divisions and zones, we have started by raising the issue with the General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR). We have submitted a memorandum compiling several issues that affect loco pilots' working conditions, including the false trip break," said Ashok Kumar Raut, General Secretary of AILRSA.
The ECR has not responded to the allegations.
However, following Raut's representation, one of ECR's divisions, Dhanbad, issued a circular dated July 15, 2025, warning of strict action against the false insertion of duty breaks between sign-on and sign-off in the CMS.
"A direction is being issued to all to not break duty hours between the sign-on and sign-off of the crew while registering it in CMS (Crew Management System). If it is happening in any crew lobby, it must be stopped immediately. If such cases are found, strict disciplinary action will be taken," the circular stated.
Raut explained that lobby officials record the sign-on and sign-off times of loco pilots in the CMS when their shift starts and ends, respectively. However, in cases where a loco pilot works for more than 12 hours, contractual staff at the lobby are allegedly inserting fake duty breaks -- ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours -- on verbal orders from senior officials to conceal overutilisation.
Each railway division submits monthly crew working hours data to the Railway Board in a fixed format. These duty breaks are reportedly used to avoid detection of excessive working hours, which violates operational safety norms.
"This illegal and unsafe practice of inserting duty breaks in the system is being done on the verbal orders of some senior officials, such as the Chief Traction Loco Controller and Chief Crew Controller. Railways has outsourced CMS data entry work to private personnel, and these officials instruct them to insert such breaks," Raut alleged.
He added, "I have gathered data from some divisions on illegal trip breaks by lobby staff. In May and June 2025, in the Dhanbad division alone, there were 2,719 such cases; 1,883 in the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar division; and 785 in the Danapur division."
He also claimed that the Samastipur and Sonpur divisions manipulated working hours in 304 and 83 cases, respectively.
Earlier this year, in April, South Central Railway reviewed CMS data on loco pilots’ working hours and found that, in 545 cases in the Secunderabad division, 42 in Vijayawada, 26 in Guntakal, three each in Guntur and Nanded, and one in the Hyderabad division, goods train loco pilots worked between 13:55 and 14:00 hours but were compelled to feed incorrect times to hide actual duty hours.
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