GCC plans for desilting of rainwater canals through robots at a cost of Rs. 10 Crores!
Posted on: 23/Dec/2019 12:42:38 PM
The Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to procure 1-robotic equipment for desilting the rainwater canals in the Chennai Metro City.
Rainwater harvesting system by canals over a distance of 1894 km is being maintained under the greater Chennai Corporation.
Presently, the activity of installing the new rainwater collecting system is in progress at 468 locations for a distance of 155.49 km at a cost of Rs. 440 Crores.
The desilting activity must be taken up every year before the onset of the monsoon seasonal rains. Over 3 Lakhs tons of silts and deposits are removed every time the desilting is done,
Desilting activity was undertaken during the last October before the onset of the Northeast monsoon rainy season and 4 lakhs tons of silts and waste were collected.
Presently, only humans are employed to carry out this desilting operation.
Now, the Greater Chennai Corporation, with the objective of stopping deployment of humans for the desilting activity and also to expedite the desilting operations, has decided to procure the latest hi-tech equipment for this activity.
Subsequently, the Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Prakash and the Assistant Commissioner tested the robotic equipment for this purpose.
After this, the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to procure the above robotic equipment.
The Chief Engineer of the Rainwater drains system Nandhakumar shared in this regard:
‘It has been decided to procure 100 robotic equipment at a cost of Rs. 10 Crores funded by the State Disaster Management Fund. With this robotic equipment, it will be possible to cleanse the larger sized rainwater drains
This robotic equipment, known as ‘bandicoot’, cleans the drain canal in 17 minutes. With 5 litres of petrol, this robotic equipment can be operated from 8 hours quite easily without any problem.
Presently, this robotic equipment bandicoot is being used in the cities Coimbatore, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, and Thoothukkudi. Use of the bandicoot in Chennai Metro City will commence shortly.’
