Punjab to deploy sewer-cleaning robots in Muktsar

The Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Department will begin using robotic scavengers for cleaning sewers.

Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana on Monday said the project will be started from Muktsar on the festival of Maghi, which falls on Tuesday.

The minister said in the first phase, a hi-tech machine, 'Bandicoot', designed by Kerala's Genrobotics will start human-free sewerage cleaning in Sri Muktsar Sahib.

"It will save employees from dangers of grave problems caused by manual cleaning of sewerage and exposure to toxic gases," she said in a release.

"This advance practice will also guard those involved in the manual cleaning of sewerage against fatal infections," she said, adding that Punjab had become the seventh state in the country to introduce the technique.

These carbon-bodied robots are water-proof and equipped with sensors to ascertain toxic gases inside sewer pipes, she said.