Govt deploys 70 mini air-tech jetting machines

The government on Monday deployed mini air-tech jetting machines to clean sewer lines and choked manholes. The machines, which works by jetstreaming water at high pressure, will ensure that labourers can carry out the work without endangering their lives.

Flagging off 70 jetting machines at a programme at People's Plaza on Necklace Road on Monday , municipal administration and urban development minister K T Rama Rao said that the new initiative will turn workers into entrepreneurs. Hyderabad will become the first metropolitan city in the country to adopt modern technology to completely eradicate manual cleaning of sewers, which has been in existence for nearly three-and-half



decades.

“The Telangana government is ready to spend crores of rupees for the safety of workers, whether they work for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) or other municipalities. This is in line with practices in other countries,“ the minister said. The initiative is a joint ef fort of the Water Board, Telangana government and the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI).Most of the sewerage workers in the city belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC). The central government has also introduced `Stand-Up-India' scheme to facilitate bank loans to SCs.