Nagpur: Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) proposal to hire heavy machinery for Ganpati immersion has raised questions over the calculation of 900 excavator-hours for four machines when the civic body has scheduled immersion of 1,702 big idols over four days from Sept 25 to 28.The Workshop department has proposed hiring 21 machines at Rs88.61 lakh, including GST, to facilitate immersion of large idols, remove remains and clean four permanent artificial immersion tanks.The proposal includes four 25-tonne excavators with 40-foot booms, for which 900 hours have been sought. It also includes nine open tippers for 1,215 hours and eight 15-tonne cranes for 720 hours, taking the total proposed deployment to 2,835 machine-hours.The excavator allocation is particularly striking. Four machines working round the clock for four days would account for 384 machine-hours. The proposed 900 hours are more than twice that figure.At 900 hours, each of the four excavators would be allocated 225 hours. If the machines are intended only for the four-day immersion schedule, this works out to 56.25 hours per excavator per day.The proposal does not specify the number of deployment days, shifts or location-wise requirement used to arrive at the 900-hour figure. It is therefore unclear whether the allocation includes deployment beyond Sept 28, standby time or another basis of calculation.The requirement assumes significance as the bulk of the big idols are scheduled for immersion on the first two days. NMC’s schedule shows 694 idols on Sept 25 and 650 on Sept 26, followed by 260 on Sept 27 and 98 on Sept 28.The excavators are proposed to lift and handle large idols, assist with immersion, remove idol remains and clean the artificial tanks. The tippers will transport idol remains and debris, while cranes will assist in lifting and handling the bigger idols.The machinery is proposed at Koradi, Gorewada, Police Line Takli and Kachiwisa permanent artificial immersion tanks.Standing Committee was scheduled to consider the proposal on Sept 24, but its meeting was deferred after the model code of conduct for the MLC graduates’ constituency elections came into force. The administration plans to place the proposal before the committee after the code ends in October.
