Mysureans can propose innovation in UGD, win handsome prizes – The Hindu
The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has thrown up another contest to the people of Mysuru as a part of Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge-2021.
After conducting a competition for designing the uniform for Safaimitras, it has now organised a contest for innovation in the maintenance of Mysuru’s underground drainage (UGD) system.
The first prize carries a cash reward of ₹20,000 while the second and third prize winners can take home cash awards of ₹10,000 and ₹5,000 respectively.
Mysuru is among 242 cities in the country that have taken up the “Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge-2021”. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the challenge themed “Manhole to Machine-hole transformation” to encourage more number of cities and towns to adopt mechanised cleaning of sewers and septic tanks, and motivate smaller cities to replicate.
As the MCC is working on winning the challenge, the contest is part of the efforts being made by it to strengthen its case for the title that carries a huge incentive from the Centre.
For the innovation contest, the MCC has, however, put certain conditions to the participants.
The innovation proposals should not be exhaustive. The proposals should come up with low-cost and faster solutions with justification and the remedies should considerably improve the efficiency in the cleaning and maintenance of UGD systems.
The innovation should prevent entry into the manhole or the septic tank. Besides having an advance warning system, the innovation should give an alert in case of a blockage for the workers to carry out preventive maintenance.
Interested persons and teams can submit their proposals/ technical papers on the subject along with their names, addresses, and their details – working or studying to [email protected] before February 15. A team can have not more than four members. Call 8748803431/9036869654 for more details.
Selected candidates or teams are supposed to present their papers on February 19 at Vani Vilas meeting hall in Yadavagiri. A release from the MCC said the first three innovative proposals would be considered as the winning proposals.
MCC falls in the category of the population of 3-10 lakh. The first prize in this category under Safaimitra challenge is ₹10 crore while the second and third prizes are ₹5 crore and ₹2.5 crore respectively.
The MCC is engaging the public in the initiative and encouraging them to participate. It had announced the contest of designing uniforms recently. Six persons had submitted their designs. The best design was selected by a committee headed by MCC Commissioner Gurudatta Hegde.
The best design bagged the cash prize of ₹10,000. Mysuru was the only city in the State that took part and submitted its design to the Ministry.