Coimbatore: Bandicoot V2.0, the manhole cleaning robot developed by Genrobotics, a Kerala-based startup was introduced at an event held at the HPCL depot in Irugur.
Coimbatore: Bandicoot V2.0, the manhole cleaning robot developed by Genrobotics, a Kerala-based startup was introduced at an event held at the HPCL depot in Irugur.
The robot priced at Rs.32 lakhs will be donated to CCMC by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday. Jagadish Hiremani, Member of the National Commission of Safai Karamchari, Government of India introduced the robot.
Tamil Nadu has a high rate of deaths that occurred due to manual scavenging compared to other States, among which 19 are from Coimbatore," stated the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis' (NCSK) member Jagadish Hiremani. "Until now, 173 people have died in Tamil Nadu while 'manually' cleaning the sewer," he noted.
Addressing the media, Jagadish Hiremani stated the robot was designed in a way that could be handled easily and would also complete the jobs much faster. "The Bandicoot robot would improve the lives of thousands of sanitary workers throughout the country. Lives are lost when people are being used to clean manholes. In the last six years, 163 people have lost their lives during the process of cleaning manholes. The Central Government is taking every possible step to put an end to this, and this robot is a blessing that would help save lives," reiterated Hiremani.
Explaining the measures taken by NCSK to eliminate manual scavenging, Jagadish Hiremani emphasised that all State Governments need to implement life settlement schemes for sanitary workers by 2022. "Under this scheme, the temporary sanitary workers will be converted into permanent employees. For the sanitary workers, lifestyle continues to remain the same even in the era of technological advancements," he opined.
The Bandicoot robot was designed by a Kerala-based team of engineers - Vimal Govind MK, Arun George, Nikhil NP and Rashid Bin Abdulla Khan who founded the company Genrobotics. On February 2018, the first succesful trial of Bandicoot was conducted at a Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram and was later launched officially in the State by the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan. Since then, the robot has created a stir with the team getting inquiries from all over the country.
On the eve of the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi last year, the team launched the latest version of the device - Bandicoot 2.0 in the presence of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. The advanced version can detect harmful gases like hydrogen sulphate and methane and is a fully automatic machine.
Speaking about the robot, Vimal, the Co-founder of Genrobotics said, "Following Trivandrum, Bandicoot was launched at Kumbakonam, Thoothukudi and now in Coimbatore. The robot is designed to clean manholes and sewers effectively at a much lesser time than when done by people. Bandicoot can do everything inside the sewers and can be operated with ease. More importantly, there will be no more deaths due to asphyxiation," emphasised Vimal.
Employment of manual scavengers was banned in India 25 years ago, as per the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993. However, according to the data obtained from the Census 2011, manual scavenging still continues primarily due to the presence of about 2.6 million insanitary latrines which require cleaning human excreta manually. In addition to the fact that manual scavenging is a paragon of social injustice, it has also resulted in the deaths of many after being exposed to harmful gases. According to an RTI response received from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in March 2019, it was reported that 405 sewer and septic tank deaths occured from 1993 to 2019.
CGM in HPCL of South Zone, Sandeep Maheshwari, Founder-President of Makkal Sevai Maiyam, Vanathi Srinithivasan, State-level Adi Dravidar Welfare Committee member S Selvakumar and other officials were present at the event.