In Mumbai, BMC pushes for ‘smart’ monitoring of manholes | Mumbai News – Times of India

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[google-translator]

MUMBAI: To curb untoward incidents due to open manholes, the BMC plans to set up a ‘smart’ monitoring system, which will trigger an alarm in case of unauthorized opening of manholes or missing or stolen cover and even aid in overflow detection. The system will also send alerts to the BMC sewer control room.

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By March, the BMC plans to implement a pilot project of the manhole monitoring system at 14 locations in the city at an estimated cost of Rs 18 lakh. There are about 74,000 manholes maintained by BMC’s sewerage department.
“We will be installing two kinds of monitoring systems. One system will sound an alarm at the site and send an alert to the sewer control room when a manhole cover is illegally removed or stolen. The other system, which will use sensors, will send an alert to the control room if sewer lines get blocked due to silt, plastic or tree branches leading to a rise in sewage levels in manholes. At four locations, we will install both the systems, and at 10 locations, we will install only the missing/stolen manhole cover alarm,” said a sewerage department official.
The internet integrated monitoring system will also include features for reporting complaints on drainage overflow and open manholes.
“As soon as the sewer control room gets an alert, a team will be deployed to the site to fix the problem. This will ensure that manholes are not left open for long and leave no scope for humans or animals to fall into them,” a civic official said. “We require sewage level indicators only at places where the manhole is shallow and there are chances of sewage overflow. We will examine how the systems function on an experimental basis and improvise upon them if we find any problems.”
The Bombay high court had recently warned that civic officials would be held responsible if anyone fell into an open manhole. The HC had earlier directed the BMC to cover all manholes.
In December, the high court had suggested that the civic body devise something with a sensor, which would send a beep to the BMC office, if somebody tampered with a manhole cover.
Sewerage department officials said they were thinking about a solution to this problem, even before the high court directed them.

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