Dusty days ahead in Bengaluru as sweeping machines fall silent

Bengaluru: With mechanical sweeping operations grinding to a halt from Saturday as the contract for the same ended on Feb 28, Bengaluru is bracing for dustier roads and rising accumulation of silt.
No further extension has been granted to the existing contractor and no fresh tenders have been floated by BBMP. The contract covered 25 sweeping machines — 17 self-propelled and eight truck-mounted — and the agency was operating on an extension sought by the civic body.
A representative of the agency confirmed there has been no extension of the current contract. "We'll be handing over all the 25 machines to BBMP on March 1. Though BBMP asked for a further extension, we can't do it as we'll have to face legal complications during audits. Also, the contract was given way back in 2017 when the diesel prices were very low. It's not feasible for us to extend the contract," said the representative.
Payments & costs
According to the firm, BBMP hasn't cleared payments for six months, citing lack of funds. With the monthly bills approximately at Rs 1.2 crore, the rising cost of diesel has made it financially unviable to continue without timely payments, it said. The current rate of cleaning per km of road is Rs 290 for truck-mounted machines and Rs 430 for self-propelled ones. The operator argued that the amounts are no longer sufficient.
Clement Jayakumar of citizens' group Mahadevapura Task Force said, "The absence of mechanical sweeping will impact air quality, and people's ability to drive safely, especially two-wheelers. Pedestrians will have to contend with dust on their faces and clothes. Now being the spring season, leaves on the road must be cleared for a safer commute."
BS Prahalad, chief-engineer (roads), BBMP, told TOI: "We'll collect all the machines and send them for a fitness check. The current machines were purchased about seven years ago... We are mainly focusing on hiring service-based tenders and don't want to deal with all these machines. All we want is roads getting cleaned; we're exploring both Make-in-India and importing options."
Severe shortage of machines
Twenty-five sweeping machines would scrub Bengaluru roads day in and day out but dust, dirt and silt are everywhere.
"The biggest issue we have is that the machines are not assigned to fixed routes. One day we clean one road, the next day a different one. This means no stretch is consistently maintained, making it look like the roads are never clean. If one machine is given a fixed route of 40-50 km, it can clean the same road every day and be held accountable for keeping that particular stretch clean," explained a representative of the company contracted with operating the machines.
The sweeping machines would cover 1,040km of arterial and sub-arterial roads across the city's eight zones. However, the company estimates that 70-75 machines are required to maintain the city's approximately 2,000-km key roads. The shortage has led to inconsistent cleaning.