Manhole Cleaning Solution

unfunded

In the past it has been customary to scoop out human waste and other debris collected at the bottom of sanitary manhole basins by a so called desilting operation using hand buckets or scoops on long poles. Such desilting tools and methods of operation are inefficient, requires manual operations that could have an impact on the health of maintenance crew, and is also an kind of work that is increasingly sought to be eliminated from a social welfare perspective. 2019 saw the highest number of manual scavenging deaths in the past five years- 110 workers were killed while cleaning sewers and septic tanks. This project is aimed at eradicating the manual scavenging process, i.e literally remove man from manhole at all costs. The project is in active development by a team of Product Design & Engineering Team at SID, Indian Institute of Science [IISc] under the guidance of professors, and mentors from Society for Innovation & Development [SID], IISc. The design & development has happened over an year and currently a third functional prototype has been designed and tested. The fund would be used to improve the functionality, usability and aesthetics of the current desilting machine prototype through strategic design and automation. Manufacturing & Production facilities, Human Resource, Equipments & Marketing support is required for the same. Also, the fund would be used for Pilot production and testing.