The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on Thursday said that it has introduced four new jetting-cum-sucking machines of 400-litre capacity each.
The move comes in the backdrop of the High Court issuing summons to the BWSSB following a PIL petition filed in 2009 by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) complaining about manual scavenging in the state and the deaths of workers while cleaning the drainages.
“The BWSSB has awarded contract to KAM AVIDA Environ Engineers Pvt to supply eight 6,000-litre capacity, four 4,000-litre capacity jetting-cum-sucking machines under the Greater Bangalore Water and Sanitation Project (GBWASP). Also, eight 6000-litre capacity vehicle chassis of Tata Motors have been delivered to the company for mounting sewer cleaning equipment. They will provide them in two weeks,” said a press release from the BWSSB.
The cost of four machines of 4,000-litre capacity each is Rs 1.30 crore and eight machines of 6,000-litre capacity is Rs 2.93 crore.