Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), with the assistance of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is developing a signal system to identify open manholes, geotag them and check for breakages.
The premier public sector defence manufacturing and maintenance unit, with a major facility here, is also working on a new sewerage safety suit for the staff provided they needed to get into the manholes for any repairs. The existing suits were not suitable for narrow manholes while undertaking repairs.
Water Board managing director M. Dana Kishore said while the newly introduced 69 mini sewer jetting machines (in June 2017) with the trained staff and the protective gear had drastically reduced the instances of the worker going inside a manhole, at times it was necessary given the fact that there were over 2.35 lakh manholes dotting the twin cities.
What the mini machines have also done, besides empowering the workers by eliminating the need to get inside at grave risk to their lives is, they are able to get into even the narrowest lane in the colonies. It has helped the Board drastically reduce the time of tackling complaints and also cutting down on complaints received.
The machines, each costing ₹ 23.6 lakh, were introduced following the intervention of the Minister for Municipal Administration K.T. Rama Rao after the death of five workers due to inhalation of toxic gases while working inside a manhole.
Mr. Kishore said, for now these machines, first of their kind in the country, were being used for ‘reactive’ maintenance for half a day and ‘preventive’ maintenance for the rest. However, after four months, he expected them to be utilised solely for preventive maintenance, after identifying sites of frequent breakdowns and taking up rectifications during the interregnum.
Sewage issues came up because priority was being given more to drinking water projects and the cities were expanding as well. Haphazard planning and inadequate expansion of underground sewer networks led to overflow and choking, he said, adding that HAL was also looking into other innovative measures to eliminate manual scavenging.
The MD, in fact, had made a presentation to the Prime Minister’s office recently, underlining the utility of the mini machines in eliminating manual labour, ensuring cleaning of congested lanes and faster redressal of complaints under the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign. “Other Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) or municipalities could follow our model,” he said.