As India’s cities expand outward and upward, the invisible systems that keep them functional are being pushed to scale in parallel. In Ahmedabad, municipal authorities are preparing a large procurement of sanitation equipment, reflecting both the physical growth of the city and the rising operational demands of urban cleanliness. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is planning to acquire nearly seven lakh brooms for its sanitation workforce, with an estimated outlay exceeding ₹3 crore. The procurement is expected to be cleared shortly through the civic body’s material management processes and will support daily street-level cleaning across a municipal area that now spans close to 480 square kilometres.
Urban officials say the scale of the purchase mirrors the expanding footprint of the city, where new residential clusters, industrial estates, and transport corridors have added to routine sanitation requirements. With more than 10,000 sanitation workers deployed across wards, manual sweeping continues to form the backbone of street-cleaning operations, particularly in dense neighbourhoods and mixed-use zones where mechanised solutions have limits. According to planning documents reviewed by this publication, the procurement will include two categories of brooms commonly used in municipal operations. Approximately five lakh units of Goa brooms and two lakh units of heavier-duty Fauji brooms are proposed, sourced through registered suppliers and cooperative societies. The differentiated purchase reflects varying use cases from routine road sweeping to heavier debris collection in markets and public spaces. From a fiscal perspective, urban finance experts note that while sanitation purchases rarely attract public attention, they account for a significant share of municipal operating budgets.
“These line items are critical to service delivery and worker productivity,” said a senior urban governance expert. “Under-provisioning leads to faster wear and tear, while predictable procurement improves efficiency and cost control.” The decision also highlights the continuing reliance on labour-intensive sanitation in Indian cities, even as policy discourse increasingly emphasises automation and smart-city tools. Urban planners argue that balanced investments combining equipment upgrades, worker safety, and gradual mechanisation are essential for inclusive and resilient urban management. There is also a sustainability dimension. Durable tools reduce replacement frequency, lowering material waste and procurement emissions over time.
Municipal engineers say standardising specifications helps extend product life while ensuring consistency across wards. As Ahmedabad continues to absorb population growth and spatial expansion, sanitation logistics are becoming a planning challenge rather than a back-end function. Experts suggest that future procurement cycles may increasingly integrate lifecycle costing, waste reduction benchmarks, and worker ergonomics into decision-making. For now, the planned sanitation purchase underscores a simple but critical reality of urbanisation: clean cities depend as much on everyday tools and frontline workers as they do on grand infrastructure projects. How municipalities manage these basics will shape both public health outcomes and the lived experience of urban residents.
