Engaged in the task of cleaning the highly-polluted Hussainsagar lake, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has decided to add more teeth to the project by adding a fleet of latest equipment.
The Authority which has taken up the Clean Hussainsagar Lake Project with assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is in the process of replacing some outdated equipment with latest state-of-the-art machinery.
Towards this, it is acquiring Aquatic Weed Harvester, Aquatic Weed Harvester-cum-Trash Collector and an Amphibious Long Boom Excavator.
To be introduced at a cost of Rs.11.13 crore, the equipment would help in fast clearance of the floating material and weed that keep coming back in the water body. As part of the JICA assisted project, the HMDA has already taken up other components such as setting up sewage treatment plants, interception & diversion structures and dredging of the lake.
According to the officials, floating material such as polythene bags, covers, plastics, food-wrappers, immersion of idols apart from algal bloom and weed has been an aspect that needed to be addressed more effectively.
“So far, we had two dredging utility crafts (DUCs) in use for the last five years. These have gone outdated, hence the need for latest equipment,” said an official.
An aquatic weed harvester and another with trash collector would remove floating waste, harvest the weed, cut and chop the aquatic vegetation while helping in quick transfer to the dump yard.
At present, the DUCs and nearly 60 manual labourers remove the floating material and pile up on the shore which in due course of time gets shifted to the dump yard.
Quick disposal“The new machinery not only quickly removes the floating material and chop and cut and collect the vegetation, it directly loads the material on the trucks waiting on the shore. This helps in quick disposal of the material lifted from the water body,” explained the HMDA Member Environment, R.P.Khajuria.
The Amphibious Hydraulic excavator with extended boom length that could reach 15 metre would help in desilting, maintenance and cleaning of stagnant water and comes handy in removing idols immersed during festive seasons.
“Not only in Hussainsagar lake, the machinery can also be comfortably shifted to other water bodies of the city for cleaning operations there,” Mr.Khajuria added.
