What's that in the air?

The land in Kawakhali, on the outskirts of Siliguri, where the proposed
smart city Teesta is expected to be made

A white drone flew over a patch of land outside Siliguri on Monday to capture shots of what is proposed to become the smart city called Teesta. 

Metro checked out the drone. 

What: A four-propellor drone with an HD video camera in its undercarriage was sent up in the air over Kawakhali, on Siliguri’s outskirts, the smart city site. The drone was a DJI Phantom Vision 2+ model

Why: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to present a video of the six proposed smart cities in Bengal when she goes to London at July-end. The video will be part of a documentary the state team will showcase at various business events in the UK, minister Gautam Deb said. 

The aerial shots were taken by a city-based private firm, 

It’s a plane, it’s a...The drone had many people in Kawakhali looking skywards and wondering what was going on. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was remote-controlled from the ground (remote unit slung around the private firm employee’s neck in picture). 

The battery-run drone could ascend to a height of a few hundred metres. The survey of the 84-acre plot took an hour from 11am 

It’s not... 

A military drone like the ones used by the US to home in on terrorists in Syria, Yemen and on the Pak-Afghan border, 

Also seen in: A drone similar to the one in SIliguri was featured in Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots 

Not a first: For Calcutta Police that has similar UAVs to get a bird’s eye view of traffic. Siliguri police do not possess drones. Reporting by Avijit Sinha, pictures by Kundan Yolmo