Coimbatore Corporation on Wednesday received five robotic UGD manhole cleaning machines from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), which had sponsored the machines for ₹ 2.50 crore under its corporate social responsibility initiative.
Commissioner Sravan Kumar Jatavath received the machines from BPCL Executive Director Jayesh Sha, who through video conferencing joined the event held at the Corporation Kalaiarangam. The BPCL officials in Coimbatore led by Territory Manager N. Krishnamani and Director of Genrobotics K. Rashid were present.
Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani is expected to launch the machines at a function to be held at the Corporation main office in Town Hall on July 16.
Mr. Jatavath said machines would help eliminate manual scavenging.
With the Corporation getting the machines, it became the first city in India to have so many robotic machines and would deploy the five machines at one each a zone.
The Commissioner also said that for the next two years a person each from the BPCL and Genrobotics would guide the Corporation workers to use the machines and they would take care of operation and maintenance as well.
Mr. Krishnamani said the company had sponsored the machines as a part of the Swachata Pakhwada programme, which was held annually from July 1 to 15. The company did not stop with sponsoring the machine but also took care of training the manual scavengers to operate the machines.
Mr. Rashid said the machines through its robotic arm could clean manholes up to 10 m.
Member of the State committee to eliminate manual scavengers S. Selvakumar said the Corporation should see to it that it trained either manual scavengers or the qualified among its conservancy workers to put the machines to good use.