Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy launches 13 new districts in AP
Amaravati, April 4: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday through video conferencing formally launched 13 new districts in the state taking the total number to 26.
Reddy extended his heartiest wishes and congratulations to the people, officials and employees for the formation of the new districts and asked the officials to ensure that people are benefited by the schemes announced by government.
Speaking on the occasion, he said people have accepted and appreciated the decentralised form of government as the schemes are directly delivered to their doorstep, and that the same is being extended to the districts now.
"We have seen the development through decentralised administration in the form of village and ward secretariats. We are now decentralising at the district level as well. From now on, AP is a state with 26 districts. We have at least one parliamentary constituency per district," Reddy said.
Reiterating that new districts are being created for the decentralisation and ease of administration, the Chief Minister said the formation of districts is very much needed for Andhra Pradesh which has a population of about five crore.
Each district will now have six to eight assembly segments except in one tribal district.
Reddy, during the poll campaign for the 2019 Assembly elections, promised that his party, if voted to power, would make every Lok Sabha constituency as a district.
The state has 25 Lok Sabha seats. One district was additionally created carving out the tribal areas in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
AI-powered robotic canal cleaning system commissioned in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) (PTI): In a major step to phase out manual scavenging and ensure the safety of sanitation workers, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation commissioned G-Spider, an AI-powered robotic canal-cleaning system, at the Amayizhanchan canal near the railway station premises at Thampanoor here, officials said on Thursday.
The system was launched by Minister for Local Self-Governments MB Rajesh at a function presided over by Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor VV Rajesh on Wednesday.
The AI-powered canal cleaning project is a joint initiative of the city corporation and Technopark-based Genrobotic Innovations, which developed Bandicoot, a robotic scavenger.
As per the agreement, Genrobotics will bear the full cost of deploying the robotic system, while the corporation will supervise its operation and maintenance.
Speaking at the event, the minister said Genrobotics has set an example of how innovative ideas can be transformed into impactful entrepreneurship.
He said that of the seven compressed biogas (CBG) plants to be commissioned in the state for solid waste management, one will be set up in the state capital.
Rajesh said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Rs 100-crore CBG plant at Brahmapuram in Kochi on February 28, adding that 90 per cent of the nine lakh metric tonne of accumulated waste at the site has already been removed.
He further said work on the Palakkad plant will be completed in February, while construction of another plant in Thrissur is progressing, and a plant at Changanassery is in the pipeline.
The minister added that the construction of four sanitary plants will be inaugurated next week.
In his address, the mayor reiterated the corporation’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technologies for waste management and lauded the Genrobotics team, stating that the civic body would explore all possible ways to utilise the company’s technology.
Repeated manual cleaning efforts in the area had led to serious safety incidents, including the death of sanitation worker Joy in 2024.
In this backdrop, the corporation initiated the deployment of robotic cleaning technology in strict compliance with the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, with the aim of eliminating human entry into hazardous canal-cleaning operations, officials said.
Corporation Deputy Mayor Asha Nath GS, Divisional Railway Manager Divyakant Chandrakar, and Genrobotic Innovations CEO and co-founder Vimal Govind MK were present on the occasion.
G-Spider is designed to operate in complex, high-risk canal environments without requiring human entry.
Built on a cable-driven parallel robotics architecture integrated with AI-enabled vision and sensor systems, the robotic platform enables precise detection, assessment and removal of accumulated waste.
The system uses machine vision and intelligent sensors to autonomously identify and assess waste in real time, dynamically adapting to varying waste types, water flow conditions and structural constraints within canals, officials said.
Guided by AI-driven vision algorithms, the robotic mechanism performs precise waste extraction through a five-degrees-of-freedom configuration, enabling accurate positioning, stable gripping, and reliable debris removal.
The extracted waste is automatically transferred to designated collection vehicles, enabling a fully hands-free, end-to-end canal cleaning process from detection to disposal, they added.
