Tiruppur South MLA S. Gunasekaran unveiled the first manhole cleaning robot of the Corporation at Kuppusamypuram on Wednesday.
Officials said that the robot ‘Bandicoot’ manufactured by a Kerala-based private firm was procured under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. The machine was worth nearly ₹40 lakh and its one-year operational maintenance would cost around ₹15 lakh.
Mr. Gunasekaran told reporters that the robot will help in curbing manual scavenging and deaths due to asphyxiation.
According to the Corporation officials, the robot will be employed to clean the 135-km- long underground drainage line in 19 out of the 60 wards.
The Corporation is planning to procure three more manhole cleaning robots by the end of this year so that there will be one robot for each of its four zones, the officials noted.
