E-Paper
PMC to rehabilitate 110 slums, use robots to eliminate manual scavenging
For eradicating manual scavenging the Patna Municipal Corporation has procured a spider-shaped robot.
The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) on Friday to rehabilitate slums, eradicate manual scavenging and provide better reproductive health facilities to women in the city.
The civic body aims to rehabilitate 110 slums by next year.
PMC commissioner Himanshu Sharma pointed out that Patna cannot achieve ‘smart city’ status without developing slums areas. He said, “With collaborative efforts, we aim to rehabilitate a total of 50 slums by the year-end while rest 60 will be rehabilitated by 2022.”
For eradicating manual scavenging the civic body has procured a spider-shaped robot.\ic ‘bandicoot’.
“Abolishing the inhuman practice of manual scavenging, our sanitation staff will clean and unclog clean septic tanks and manholes with the help of robots and machines. We will also set up three sanitary napkin packaging units in the city providing employment opportunities to women. Besides, women living in slums will be given better reproductive health facilities and family planning counseling,” he said.
UNPF’s representative Argentina Matavel Piccin, who virtually attended the programme, said, “Slums are the major area which contribute to the increase of urban population. Overall development of any city can’t be achieved without the development of slums.”
The PMC has also geared up for the installment of CCTV cameras at 500 places in Patna to enhance surveillance for checking crime and traffic norm violations along with construction of 25 public toilets. The civic body has also got approval from its standing committee to acquire 35 acres of land at Ramchak Bairiya dumping yard for setting-up a plastic waste management centre with an estimated expenditure of ₹5 crore.
