Mumbai: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s (BPCL) Mumbai refinery on Friday presented two Bandicoot robots to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for cleaning the city’s manholes. These robots will ensure safe working conditions for the sanitation workers. The two robotic machines were handed over by BPCL’s executive director CJ Iyer to BMC’s Assistant Commissioner (M West) Prithviraj Chauhan on November 21.
The robots have been deployed for cleaning the manholes in Chembur and will reduce the incidents of water logging during the rains. The city’s underground sewerage and rainwater drainage, which serve a common purpose in most places, will be cleaned by the robots. The robots will aid in cleaning of all types of waste in the manholes and sewerage lines.
The project under BPCL’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program was executed with the support of Genrobic Innovations Pvt Ltd, a leading robotic startup funded by BPCL. Under the CSR plan of robots, training will be given to manhole cleaners to use the robots.
Sanitation workers, as a practice, have to get inside the manhole for cleaning them. Hazardous gases such as methane and hydrogen sulphide that are formed in the manholes, pose a serious health hazard for the cleaners.
