Two new vehicles meant to help Shillong’s streets be a little cleaner were released by Urban Affairs Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar today.
The two vehicles – one with a mounted ‘litter picking machine’ and the other a road sweeper – belong to the Shillong Municipal Board.
With the disappearance of practically all of the blue and green public dustbins put up around Shillong only a few years ago, the state capital’s streets have looked filthier than normal.
The former was procured by the SMB to reduce manual handling of garbage by municipal workers. The collection capacity of the machine is 1.5 cubic metres, which will be roughly about one tonne of garbage, and the machine was procured with funds from the 14th Finance Commission at a cost of Rs 41.20 lakh.
The road sweeper’s collection capacity is 1.4 cubic metres, which will be roughly about one tonne of garbage. The machine contains one centre brushing sweeping system, two side brushing sweeping systems, and one main broom with a sweeping width of 2,000 mm. The machine was procured with funds from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the North Eastern Region Urban Development Programme at a cost of Rs 24.49 lakh.
