MUMBAI, Maharashtra: The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde announced that from now onwards, robots will be used for cleaning manholes across Mumbai. The announcement came during the inauguration of the Clean Maharashtra Mission 2.0.
Various ministers and officials from the Government of Maharashtra, including Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, were also present during the inauguration ceremony at Yashwantrao Chavan Foundation, Main Auditorium.
In this exhibition, urban local bodies across Maharashtra gathered to showcase their cleaning and safety equipment that is being used for sanitation. The Bandicoot developed by Genrobotics was the key highlight of the exhibition. The robotic scavenger is being used by Ullhasnagar and Dhule Municipal Corporation for the maintenance of manholes in their area of jurisdiction. It is equipped with gas-sensing technology to detect hazardous gases, thus minimising the risk of accidents inside manholes.
The robot emerged victorious in the Swachhta Start-Up Challenge for being the best innovative solution to eliminate manual scavenging in September 2022. The challenge was organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. It is also being praised for its efficiency as it can clean around 10 manholes in a day while a manual scavenger can only cover one or two.