A tractor-mounted cleaner that sieves out garbage from Chowpatty

MUMBAI: The cleaning of Girgaum Chowpatty, one of the most popular and old beaches of Mumbai, just got better and easier.
Around a month ago, the BMC brought in a tractor-mounted cleaning machine that does the job quicker than anything else and more efficiently, scooping away all debris, besides cigarette butts, glass shards, tar balls and even animal/human faeces that are usually difficult to be picked up by hands.Attached to a tractor for easy movement on sand, the machine was imported from the US in October at a cost of Rs 52 lakh.“The pedals of the machine make it possible to scoop up sand from six inches below the surface. This loosens the sand but does not erode it. Once scooped up, the machine hopper sieves out the clean sand and puts it back on the beach, while the garbage, including glass shards and tar balls, is filtered out,” said a civic official from the solid waste management department.
Another official from the department pointed out that the loading and screening method makes it possible to sweep garbage off the beach as well as under water and beyond the tide line. “Glass pieces, gutkha packets and cigarette butts often get submerged in the sand and it is difficult for the workers to pick them up. But the machine can scoop them out from beneath the surface,” the official said. It also saves manpower as only one person is required to operate the tractor and the machine.”
The total area of the beach is 2 lakh sq m, but of the huge stretch, approximately 60,000 sq m has been encroached upon by squatters who have set up their shanties there. That leaves around 1.2 lakh sq m of the shore that needs to be cleaned.
The cleaning usually starts past midnight and is conducted through the morning since 7.30am. According to officials, though workers keep picking up garbage from the beach, the machine has made the job much easier. The civic body apparently required a device that would clean 20,000 sq m per hour but the tractor-mounted sweeper has turned out to be even better as it can take care of 36,000 sq m in an hour.
“The beach witnesses a massive footfall every day and it usually rises after 4pm. So, we do not run the machine after 4pm till the public leaves after midnight,” the solid waste management official added.
Indrani Malkani, a member of the high court-appointed committee for the improvement of Chowpatty, said, “Advanced technology has to be used to clean a beach as sea pollution needs to be controlled. We hope that the BMC replicates the cleaning mechanism at other beaches in the city as well.”