Members of the civic standing committee on Wednesday questioned the performance of the Mumbai Fire Brigade’s robot used to fight the Bandra fire, alleging that it failed to serve its purpose.
But the fire brigade said despite limitations on the robot’s use, it performed well.
The city’s first firefighting robot was put to test in operations to douse the fire at the MTNL building in Bandra on Monday, just five days after it was inducted into the fire brigade. The Hindu had reported that the robot met with limited success as it did not have turning space.
In Wednesday’s standing committee meeting, BJP corporator Abhijit Samant said, “The fire brigade needs to tell us why the robot could not function inside the building and had to be brought out. Then what was the purpose of buying it?”
The fire brigade bought the robot for ₹90 lakh.
Samajwadi Party leader Rais Shaikh said, “Did the fire brigade waste ₹1 crore? If this is the performance, the purchase of this robot needs to be investigated.” Leader of Opposition Ravi Raja, too, demanded an investigation into the purchase, saying that the robot had to be carried up the stairs.
A senior fire brigade official told the committee the robot had to be carried as the water being sprayed onto the building was gushing down the steps. He said, the robot functioned well at the spot where it was used.
The robot could only go up to the first floor on the west side of the building. Then it was deployed towards the back of the building, where it worked for about two hours.
