For the first time in the North-East, the sewage in drains will be cleaned by robots. GDD Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya on Tuesday inaugurated the first-ever sewage cleaning robot in Guwahati.
The robot named 'BANDICOOT' has been procured by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) along with six Skid Steer Loaders (mini loaders) from JCB and six Backhoe Loaders from CASE and BOBCAT companies each.
The BANDICOOT robot is also the first of its kind in the world that was developed by a Start-up India company called Genrobotics under the Make in India initiative, funded by CSR of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
Notably, Guwahati is the third city in the entire country to procure this innovative technology to clean manholes after Gurugram and Coimbatore.
Around 3,790 drains in Guwahati will be cleaned up by the robot. The initiative has been taken to save the lives of the labourers as many died while cleaning the drains. Now the labourers will be able to clean the drains without stepping into it with the help of the robots.
The robots have four cameras that have been gifted by OIL India Corporation.
