After scrapping plans with Turkish firm: BMC refloats tender to buy six robotic water rescue devices

However, the decision drew flak from across the political spectrum owing to the firm’s link with Turkey in light of the recent conflict between India and Pakistan in May, where the latter used drones supplied by Turkey to target India.

In light of the backlash and tensions in India-Turkey relations, the BMC decided to cancel its pre-existing tender in June and float afresh a tender with preference for Indian firms to propagate the “Make-in-India” campaign.

In the new tender floated by the BMC on September 12, the MFB has stipulated that only ‘Indian manufacturers (OEM) or their authorised dealer/ distributor of the Robotic Water Rescue Device Life Saving Buoy’ will be considered as eligible in the bidding process. The tenderer, BMC stated, should also bear previous experience of executing similar projects for any semi-government, government or public sector organisations, fire and emergency services in India in the last seven years.

According to officials, the life saving buoys will have the capacity to accommodate upto 200 kg and have a maximum speed of upto 18 km/hour. Being a remote controlled vehicle, the life-buoys will be operated by the civic deployed rescuers from the shores without having to venture into the sea. The machines are proposed to have a design which will enable a drowning person to grab the middle beam or hand belts of the fuselage, following which the rescuer can control the life saving buoy to drive to the safety zone.

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