Bengaluru: 40,000 manholes cleaned ahead of monsoon

BENGALURU: With monsoon set to arrive next month, civic agencies are working on a war footing to implement preventive steps to ensure the city is spared flooding and waterlogging.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) has taken up the task of cleaning all 2.4 lakh manholes in Bengaluru and has completed work on around 40,000 of them.

Announcing the plan to clean the manholes, BWSSB chairman Tushar Girinath set a timeline of 18 months to achieve the target.Admitting that the manholes hadn’t been cleaned for several years, he said the work began on January 1.

Confirming that 40,000 manholes had already been cleaned, BWSSB chief engineer Gangadhar BC said: “It’s difficult to clean 2.4 lakh manholes within a few months. We have chalked out an 18-month plan and 7,000-8,000 manholes can be cleaned in a month,” he said.
He said manholes in areas like JC Road, Raj Bhavan Road, Balabruhi, High Grounds and surrounding VVIP roads have been cleaned and directions have been issued to divisional and sub-divisional engineers to ensure flooding is averted in low-lying areas.
Gangadhar said they have deployed all 139 jetting machines for the cleaning exercise. As the number of machines is less given the size and spread of Benglauru, the utility has decided to purchase 31 more machines, which will join the fleet over the next fortnight.
“The idea to take up this massive cleaning exercise came following complaints about overflowing manholes, especially during monsoon. As our jetting machines are equipped with GPS, all manholes are being tracked. The drivers and engineers cannot fool anybody,” Girinath added.