BMC saves ₹15 crore by using AI to monitor stormwater drain desilting
Maharashtra : Last year, the BMC saved around ₹15 crore by using an artificial intelligence (AI) model specifically to monitor stormwater drain (SWD) desilting work carried out by contractors. Since last year, contractors have been required to upload photos and videos before, during, and after desilting and silt dumping, as well as live site locations. The AI platform was developed by a BMC-created agency at a cost of around ₹25,00,000. Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Bangar said, “AI has been introduced to reduce human intervention in SWD desilting entries and increase monitoring and transparency.” Contractors were not paid for trips where the AI failed to verify uploads.
“If photos/videos are not uploaded, or the AI fails to verify them, the trip is considered incomplete, and the contractor is not paid for it. AI does not accept photo/video ghosting. When this was pointed out to the contractor, they did not object, and they were not paid for such trips. These violations were found, more or less, in 24 wards,” Bangar said.
The official further stated that several systems were found active, focused simultaneously on specific sites, which were found to be malfunctioning. It was later discovered that engineers/contractors uploaded photos/videos from their offices, even though they were instructed to do so from the site. “Silt dumping grounds have also been geo-tagged. This year, the AI model is trending better, and we expect 80 to 90% effectiveness.”
