GUWAHATI: Within three months of launch, the much-hyped manhole cleaning robot of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) remains non-functional or under-functional.
On 28th July, Guwahati Development Department minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya inaugurated the first-ever manhole cleaning robot of Guwahati and the entire northeast, at Dispur.
The robot named 'BANDICOOT' was procured by GMC along with six Skid Steer Loaders (mini loaders) from JCB and six Backhoe Loaders from CASE and BOBCAT companies each.
Notably, Guwahati is the third city in the entire country to procure this innovative technology to clean manholes after Gurugram and Coimbatore.
Allegedly, the GMC is not able to use the robot due to its size that is comparatively much larger than the size of manholes in the city. Sources have alleged that the robotic arms could not pass through all manholes of Guwahati as the mouths of most of the manholes are very narrow.
Utpal Sharma Baruah, Engineer of GMC, denying all allegations told G Plus, “The robot is used wherever possible. It is used to clean all the large-sized, round-mouthed manholes. But there are only a few such holes in Guwahati. It cannot be used on the small ones.”
Manojit Bujarbarua, the Executive Engineer of GMC, seconded the opinion and said that BANDICOOT was used to clean the drain at a few places like Chandmari, Guwahati Club, etc. “Usually, manual scavenging is the only way to clean the manholes. So most of these have ladders attached for our workers to go down. Now, these ladders are hindering the smooth entering of the robot arms for cleaning,” he said but denied providing any report of the work done.
The robot is currently kept at the GMC parking area near the Nehru Stadium.
The BANDICOOT robot is a first of its kind in the world, developed by a Start-up Indian company called Genrobotics under the Make in India initiative. It was funded under the CSR of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
The issue of the non-utilization of the robot has raised questions amongst concerned citizens. Had the Guwahati Municipal Corporation not looked into the feasibility of such high-end equipment to be used in the drainage of an already unplanned city before procuring it? Will manual scavenging still continue?