A sweeping dilemma: Should Bengaluru rent road sweepers?

With summer dust looming, Bengaluru’s road-cleaning strategy faces scrutiny over costs, inefficiencies, and concerns about dumping

Bengaluru: Bengaluru’s citizens and officials have always been at loggerheads regarding mechanical sweeping machines. Now that the Urban Development Department has decided to outsource 40 road-sweeping machines for seven years, sweeping is back in the headlines.

Why go for rented machines? “We had problems in the past with regard to maintenance and operations. Our systems are not equipped enough to handle mechanical sweepers efficiently. It makes sense to outsource that part and just pay the firms to get it done,” said Maheshwara Rao, Chief Commissioner of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).

By when will new corporations have this system? “We have to go ahead as soon as possible. Else in the summer, the dust situation is going to worsen with air quality levels dipping,” he added.

Critics of the sweeping machines say no socioeconomic impact analysis or cost-benefit analysis has been done. 

“Any such government project involves a socio-economic angle. Those who sweep streets are from downtrodden sections of society. At a rate of one pourakarmika for 330 metres of one side of the road, 1,688 kilometres of road would have given employment to more than 11,000 pourakarmikas. The cost would have been a lot lower than machines,” observes Ram Prasad, the founder of Friends of Lakes, also actively involved in highlighting waste-related issues.

However, Rao denied this. “We did the cost-benefit analysis and machines were found to be cheaper,” he added.

Cost concerns

A source said the BSWML had estimated a cost of close to Rs 90 lakh for procuring a sweeping machine. If one adds maintenance, fuel, and labour costs, a source says that one sweeping kilometre would cost close to Rs 250 if the corporations own the vehicle. 

The Urban Development Department (UDD) estimates Rs 894 per sweeping km under a rented model. The cost is estimated at Rs 9,593 crore for the first year alone if 40 mechanical sweeping machines were rented. 

To compare, the BBMP had presented a budget of Rs 19,927 crore last year. Sweeping roads of 1,688 kms alone would cost almost half of that amount under the proposed model. The Centre grants funds to Bengaluru for clean-air projects under the National Clean Air Plan (NCAP). In fact, it allocated Rs 116 crores in 2023 for initiatives, including sweeping machines. But the planned expenditure for sweeping machines is way more than any such grant can fulfil.

There is neither any clarity on how these figures were arrived at, nor any break-up in the UDD's publicly available notification. 

Following public objections to these costs, the government has now decided to seek a third-party view before moving ahead with the tender.

Take the case of Bengaluru North corporation, which has had four sweeping machine vehicles for the past seven years. “The cleaning has not always been effective. They cover just 25-30 km, compared to 40 km of the road,” says Sunil Kumar Pommula, Commissioner of Bengaluru North Corporation.

Bengaluru West Corporation has 390 kilometres of arterial roads, such as Magadi Road, West of Chord Road, and Hosakere Halli Road, but only four sweeping machines. “Cleanliness is a serious issue on these roads,” admits Rajendra K V, Commissioner of Bengaluru West Corporation. 

He finds the lack of involvement by local establishments in protecting and maintaining the roads a problem for the optimal functioning of sweeping machines.  “We are thinking of involving big establishments in adopting roads so that they keep their stretches problem-free and sweeper-machine-friendly,” he adds.

'Flawed, yet fine'

Either the pourakarmikas or the vehicles can't sweep during the daytime, so sweeping has to take place after 12 before 6 am, says Anjaneyappa, Head of the Civil Engineering Department at RV College of Engineering. He is an expert in roads and serves on many road-related committees. 

“The safety and health of sweeping pourakarmikas can’t be guaranteed, and machines are more efficient,” he added.

“The human requirement for such large-scale, high-risk street sweeping is huge, and the process is time-consuming. There are definitely flaws that may need to be ironed out. But the city needs such sweepers,” explained Anjaneyappa. Roads today in Bengaluru may not have been designed for machine-sweeping, and there are limitations. Still, in today’s situation, we need these,” he added.

One of the main problems raised by critics is the dumping of collected waste anywhere and everywhere in the city, including stormwater drains and lakes. 

When asked about this, Rao assured that the corporations will “ensure there are checks in place to fix accountability regarding where the waste goes.”

“We will have manpower and technological systems in place to monitor the quality of sweeping done. The public can also send suggestions when the details are up on the websites,” he added.

Challenges for machines

A source who knows how the sweeping machines currently operate said that roadside dumping of waste is a major problem for them. “Sometimes people dump on the footpath, which later falls onto the main road. Sweeping machines sweep only roads, medians and kerbs, and not footpaths. Sweeping machines can, in fact, suck the other waste as well, but it takes more time to do it if the machine has to be stopped and mixed waste sucked each time,” the source added.

Each machine is supposed to sweep a stretch of 40 kilometres - it amounts to just 10 km on four-lane roads, with each side having two vehicle widths to sweep - 10 kms each, four times.

“Mixed waste and dust collected can’t be dumped indiscriminately; they have to be carried to a designated destination each time the vehicle is full. This wastes a lot of sweeping time for the machines; they may not be able to sweep the assigned stretches fully, according to the source.

Planning of transit vehicles or transit points is crucial to address this issue in future tenders, said the source.

Another challenge is the construction activity that goes on perennially in the city in every area.”To handle all these, Bengaluru needs one machine for every road. The current extra load on the machines may be a reason for breakdowns, the source indicated.

The city now has 26 seven-year-old machines, all of which have been procured and maintenance outsourced.

"The initial operations and maintenance (O&M) contract was for five years. That is extended now, but there may be uncertainty among the current O&M contractor, as there is talk of a new tender. This may have led to laxity in the maintenance of the vehicles,” speculates the source.

“Indian roads need machines designed for Indian road conditions — dusty and full of a variety of waste. We can’t import sweeping machines from abroad, because they would be made for conditions in their countries, and spare parts aren't easy to get,” cautions the source.