Robotic excavators to clean drains, waterways in Bengaluru

RoboticRobots excavators are coming to Bengaluru soon. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) – the urban local body – has plans to procure ‘robot multi-purpose excavators’ for dredging and cleaning of drains in Bengaluru.

“The BBMP has submitted a Rs 2 crore proposal to get robot multi-purpose excavators for dredging and cleaning of drains. With the use of such machines, we will be able to complete dredging in vast stretches quickly,” said N Manjunath Prasad, Commissioner, BBMP.

The city of Bengaluru received 120mm of rainfall in August on average, but it received 249.21mm this year. The city has already received 86mm of rainfall in the first three days of September. Many areas including Hosur-Sarjapur Road Layout (HSR Layout) and Shantinagar were the worst hit. HSR Layout’s sewage system can take only 8 mm of rainfall. Earlier, rainwater from HSR Layout used to flow into Madiwala Lake. The situation has put the civic authorities on their toes for rescue operations.

The commissioner said the BBMP will resume its drive to clear encroachments on storm water drains. “We had identified properties that encroached upon storm water drainages in the city and cleared 1,255 of them.The drive for the remaining properties will resume soon,” he said.

Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George said as parts of the city drown during the rain, the Rs. 800-crore work on reinforcing stormwater drains, which was expected to be completed before this monsoon, will now be completed by December.

He said the BBMP had tendered 408 works to construct reinforced cement concrete (RCC) drains of 192 km at a cost of Rs 800 crore after the July 2016 floods. On Sunday, BBMP officials admitted that work started as late as May.

On August 5, a review by George revealed that only 54.66% of the works had begun and just 5.3% had been completed.

Plans are also on to announce short-term flood relief package for Bengaluru. In an impromptu discussion, the minister told reporters, “The objective of the package is to address flood, water logging and other rain-related problems in Bangalore. I will propose the short-term relief package (approximately Rs 300 crore) under the Nagarotthana Grand in the upcoming cabinet meeting for its consideration.”

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