Tankers tweaked in Tambaram to spray disinfectant

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.04.2020

Without waiting for special machinery to spray disinfectants, officials of Tambaram municipality have found an ingenious way to cover more area in their jurisdiction with limited resources.

A brainchild of commissioner—in-charge M Karuppiah Raja, who is an engineer, the system works by attaching pipes to a motor fitted to the power take-off (PTO) system of tanker lorries to spray the disinfectant from the rear of the vehicle. PTO is a means for taking power from a power source, such as a running engine, and transmitting it to another machine; it is usually found in trucks and tractors.

“We began using two tankers filled with disinfectant liquid to spray onto the roads and walls of houses. The operations began on Wednesday and we covered 70 % of the municipality that day,” said M Karuppiah Raja, commissioner-in-charge. A tanker each was used for the western and eastern neighbourhoods of the municipality.

Raja said the tankers could cover up to 20km a day. “We sprayed around 80,000 litres of disinfectant in a day. Our initial focus is on covering neighbourhoods where people were asked to be on compulsory home quarantine. We will move to other areas soon,” Raja said.

For the roads where a tanker lorry could not pass through, load autorickshaws are used. For now, two tankers have been fitted with these makeshift contraptions and more such tankers will be hired and modified if necessary, said another official.

Municipal workers are also using hand-held sprayers to frequently disinfect public places and residences.

NOVEL APPROACH: The system works by attaching pipes to a motor fitted to the power take-off (PTO) system of tanker lorries to spray the disinfectant from the rear of the vehicle