Machines will make sweeping changes

Civic body plans to run mechanised clean-up pilot project insuburban wards
Smita Deshmukh

Mumbai is now taking another step towards becoming a world-class city. The
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) now plans to run a mechanised
sweeping pilot project in D, K(W) and S suburban wards.

The corporation will soon issue tenders to buy sophisticated machines to
clean up Mumbai streets. The proposal is to buy different models to check
its effectiveness and the corporation will undertake a comprehensive
training programme for its conservancy staff to operatethe same.

"There is a need of bringing road sweeping to world standards. The
alternative lies in technical solution rather than employing more labour.
Machines will ensure less physical labour and roads can be swept more than
once in two or three shifts," said RA Rajeev, additional municipal
commissioner (city).

Initial estimates state the need of 509 machines (including standby), each
costing Rs 15 lakhs and five-hour shift would clean up 80,000 sq m areas.
With 300 sweepers from the Solid Waste Management (SWM) succumbing annually
due to the manual handling of garbage, officials are now keen to pump in
Rs76.35 crore capital funds in this project to ensure cleanliness in the
city, especially in big garbage-generation areas like railway and bus
stations.

"Today, important roads are being maintained by double shifts at high costs
as a whopping 3,573 sweepers per hour are taken from NGOs and outside
contractors."

"We can nullify the capital investment in two years thanks to the savings on
the private outsourcing. There would be no staff reduction as we plan to
divert staff for other cleaning activities,'' said Rajeev.

Incidentally, most cleaning machines do not require any sophisticated
training, can run on rough roads and drivers do not need RTO licence. As of
now, officials are in talks with the civic unions over the issue as well as
planning for ward-wise parking, workshops and maintenance of the machines.

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Publication : DNA; Section : Mumbai; Pg: 7; Date: 18/10/06
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