Chennai, Jul 30 (IANS): Drone-as-a-Service (DAAS) provider Garuda Aerospace has bagged a contract from the Haryana government for spraying anti-locust pesticide in the state, said a top company official.

"The Haryana government has asked us to initially deploy two drones for anti-locust operations. Locust swarm attacks are happening in places like Sirsa, Bhiwani, Rewari, Charkhi Dadri and other places in Haryana," Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Managing Director of Chennai-based Garuda Aerospace, told IANS.

Jayaprakash said the order is from Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, Government of Haryana and additional drones may be requested based on the need.

According to him, Haryana is the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to have contracted Garuda Aerospace for drone-based anti-locust operations.

Recently the Ministry of Civil Aviation gave conditional exemption to the Haryana government for use of remotely piloted systems for anti-locust operations, Jayaprakash said.

He said there are two methods of spraying the pesticide -- one by flying above the swarm of locusts and spraying on them and the other is to spray the pesticide beforehand on the areas where the locusts are expected to land.

Jayaprakash said the Rajasthan government has floated a new tender and Garuda Aerospace will be submitting its bid.

Garuda Aerospace has been carrying out drone-based anti-coronavirus sanitation orders from several municipal corporations and smart cities like Varanasi, Rourkela, Raipur, Chennai and Hyderabad.