Reinventing an Old Dhobi Ghat into a Modern Laundry Place

An old dhobi ghat in the Rajnna Siricilla district of Telangana now offers modern laundry service. A dhobi ghat is a place, usually on the river side, where washermen wash clothes manually. However, in the Rajnna Siricilla ghat, everything is done mechanically now. The administration developed it into a modern laundry place with all facilities. Big washing machines, hydro extractors, driers, boiler, and calendar ironing machines have been installed. The project will not only save water by recycling used water, but it will also ease the lives of the local washermen at large.

Indian Masterminds interacted with 2015-batch IAS officer and Collector of Rajnna Siricilla district, Anuraag Jayanti, to know more about this ecologically sustainable initiative.

MODERN DHOBI GHAT

The Siricilla ghat is now considered to be one of the best among modern mechanised dhobi ghats in India. Mr. Anuraag Jayanti said, “Earlier, because of manual washing, a lot of detergent-mixed water was going into the river.So, it was creating an ecologically harmful impact. But now the water will not be directly released as it is totally mechanized. This will also ease the work of the washermen or dhobis.”

The administration plans to expand this initiative to all towns soon.

FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Talking about the facilities available, the officer said that there are three washing compartments. The big machines have capacity of 120 kg. 240 pieces of clothes can be washed in a single cycle of 1 hour. A total of 8 cycles can be done in a single shift and 1920 pieces of cloths can be washed. “As a result, the quality of work will now improve,” he added.

IMPLEMENTATION

This project is financed by the state Urban Development ministry. Telangana Urban Finance Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (TUFIDC) is in overall charge of the project and it was executed by the municipal council. They were the implementing agencies. It will be run by a cooperative society of the local washermen. The state government is now planning to take this project to other cities and towns also.