HYDERABAD: If all goes according to plan, the small and dingy lanes of the twin cities would be manual scavenging-free. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is going to press as many as 70 mini airtech (jetting machines) into service from tomorrow.
Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) minister KT Rama Rao will inaugurate the mini airtech machines on Monday on the occasion of World Environment Day at Necklace Road. The event will be followed by start of a one-day training programme on “Precautionary and Sewer Safety Measures” at HMWS&SB head office in Khairatabad.
Each section of the Water Board will be provided with one airtech machine. Presently, the department has bulky airtech machines which cannot enter into narrow lanes to clear the blockages.
This first of its kind initiative is the joint effort of the HMWSSB and Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI). It is an initiative conceptualised to transform manual scavengers into entrepreneurs. Each machine costs Rs 26 lakh. SBI gave the initiative a term loan of Rs 20 lakh per machine while many entrepreneurs invested about Rs 6 lakh each.
Tenders invited
HMWS&SB has invited tenders worth Rs 20 crore per annum from the reputed manufacturers, authorised dealers and owners of sewer cleaning machines who comply with pollution standards to undertake desilting in the city.
Bacteria-resisitant dresses will also provided to the operators of these mini sewer jetting machines for the first time in the country.