Deccan Herald               13.08.2013

A street-smart way to keep the City clean

This could well be the panacea for the City’s garbage ills. A group of seven technocrats has come up with three kinds of vacuum cleaners, capable of handling various types of trash, including sand and mud.

It took the technocrats just a month and a half to come up with the vacuum cleaners, at a cost of Rs two lakh. The cost has been borne by the seven individuals themselves. The machines, referred to as ‘Streetvac,’ are of three different varieties.

The ‘Streetvac with Brush’ and the ‘Streetvac Sweeper’ have the capacity to suck in 100 litres of garbage at a time. The ‘Streetvac Hopper’ can be mounted on various types of vehicles, including tractors.

Apart from sand, these vacuum cleaners are able to clear leaves and other debris, wet or dry, including water. All the three weigh between 40 and 45 kg, but can be easily moved around as they are fitted with wheels.

“We have been participating in several clean-up drives for the last many years. We were alarmed at the increasing pollution levels in Bangalore. As per the recent survey report of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), 20 per cent of  the pollution in the City is due to road dust. One of the major contributing factors to dust pollution is presence of mud on the street. Hence, we felt the need to develop a vacuum cleaner,” said B R Prasad, design head of Neosphere, a research and development company.

Tailor-made

The vacuum cleaners have been tailored for Indian conditions. While the regular household vacuum cleaners cannot suck in water, these machines can do so without any blockage, say the technocrats.

As part of the ‘Dhool Hatao’ campaign, volunteers from Neosphere, with support from Canara Bank, will take part in the cleanliness drive in which the newly developed vacuum cleaners will be used. To start with, the Canara Bank Head Office-Town Hall Junction was cleaned on August 12.

BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana told Deccan Herald, “We are ready to buy them, provided the machines are helpful and have good storage capacity. Once they demonstrate and we are satisfied, we will be able to help them out.”