Manual Scavenging ROBOTS TO THE RESCUE!!
Every year, quite a few manual scavengers die due to suffocation by poisonous gases in manholes. However, the hunger to fill the stomach forces the poor and the needy to do such a hazardous job!! Home Times, in its past issues, has published many reports about BMC not providing the essential safety gear to do such odd jobs. However, as the English axiom goes ‘Better late than never’, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had decided to go high-tech and employee robots to clean manholes, a step towards eliminating manual scavenging!!
According to the latest reports, the BMC has ordered Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to design robots that would enter the manholes and clean them mechanically and return. The project is being made under BPCL’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program and has been designed by Genrobic Innovations Pvt Ltd, a leading robotic start-up funded by BPCL. The BMC has taken the step after receiving much flak over the deaths of several manual scavengers.
Manual scavenging is a difficult job. Getting inside drains and sewers into septic tanks and cleaning human excreta and everything else that we flush down the toilet is a taxing and health-hazardous job. Despite such a tedious and hazardous job, the BMC never supplies these manual scavengers vital gear like oxygen masks, hand gloves and other essentials to protect them. As a result, many manual scavengers undergo skin infection, breathing diseases and many die due to suffocation of impure gases.
Thankfully, BMC has finally decided to employ robots. Initially, BMC will have 2 robots for this purpose. These robots will have three cameras each, infra-red devices and the ability to detect gases inside manholes. They can reach 8 metres deep.
