Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) purchased a metal detector for Rs 9 lakh to locate manholes buried in the eastern areas, including Odhav, Vastral and Amraiwadi. These manholes often get covered during road resurfacing, leading to drainage issues during monsoon.
To address the issue before monsoon, a tender was issued in March for the purchase of a metal detector. It was decided that the gadget costing Rs 9.17 lakh would be bought through a single tender. Metal detectors are purchased for various wards in the city and the cost usually remains below Rs 30 lakh, so proposals are not typically submitted for approval before purchase. Instead, the standing committee is informed post-purchase.The proposal for the purchase was approved by the standing committee after monsoon.
The AMC is also considering a permanent solution for locating manholes. Two years ago, manholes were GPS-tagged using the AMC's 311 mobile application, but the tagging was not accurate.
Now, a new DGPS system will be used for tagging manholes in the drainage laser module. As a pilot project, 35,000 manholes in the Central Zone were tagged at a cost of Rs 42.45 per manhole, totalling Rs 14.85 lakh. In the coming days, GPS-tagging will be extended to all manholes in the city's other six zones. This proposal was approved in a Sep meeting of the water and sewerage committee.