The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has introduced four new jetting-cum-sucking machines of 400-litre capacity each, following a PIL petition filed in 2009 by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) complaining about manual scavenging in the state and the deaths of workers while cleaning the drainages.
The BWSSB has awarded contract to KamAvida Environ Engineers Pvt Ltd to supply eight 6,000-litre capacity four 4,000-litre capacity jetting-cum-sucking machines under the Greater Bangalore Water and Sanitation Project (GBWASP). About eight 6000-litre capacity vehicle chassis of Tata Motors is being used for mounting sewer cleaning equipment.
The cost of four machines of 4,000-litre capacity each is र1.30 crore and eight machines of 6,000-litre capacity is र2.93 crore.