“Today, we are proud to say that let the architect imagine and provide his expression of art or desire in the building that he designs – we will provide a system to reach in,” says Ashok Khemlani, Managing Director, Clean India
Established in 1993, Cleanindia Group of Companies pioneers in façade access equipment manufacturing, supplying and maintenance. In an exclusive interaction with B2B Purchase, Ashok Khemlani talks about the market status, prevailing challenges and his company’s contributions.
Maintenance of facades for high-rise buildings is always a challenge. Could you brief us on the challenges faced in the maintenance of facades for such buildings? For working at height, the use of mechanised equipment in construction industry is in nascent stage. Firstly, the introduction of the products to access the façade was a problem. However the knowledge and also the use of systems are increasing very rapidly.
Secondly, India has rapidly moved away from developing straight line buildings to various types of shapes and slopes. Architects and developers are today constructing state-of-the-art buildings and there is no gap in façade designs in India and abroad. Also due to economic slowdown in many parts of the world, coupled with initiative from Indian builders and corporate, many architects from different parts of the world are practicing in India. I dare to say that today as the facades go our Indian architecture is ahead of rest of the world.
In today’s architecture access systems pose challenges. No doubt the solutions are always found. The problem remains in over simplification or an overkill. However, architects and corporate are becoming more knowledgeable on the subject.
Thirdly, in India, the practices that are highly unsafe are still being followed on high-rise buildings. Majority of the building facades are being accessed with bamboo scaffolding which is unheard of elsewhere in the world. Nearly all countries use safely assembled steel scaffolds or temporary access systems. Every year there are many deaths all over the country because of unsafe practices. Most of them go un-noticed in the country by media.
Lack of health and safety standards is one of biggest challenges in this country. The government do not specify anything on the health and safety for working at height. The municipal authorities come and check the area, FSI etc. -They do not look at health and safety aspects at construction sites. The problem is – our culture does not permit to be careful.
There is another challenge that is ‘I can also do’ since there is no control. Many people get into enterprise saying ‘I can also do’ without understanding the hazards of it. Result is sub-standard products not meeting the minimum quality that is required for safe operations.
Due to opening up of economy, many global suppliers are in to the Indian market. But due to lack of any control on import quality, many a time the products we are getting are of poor quality. In case of façade cleaning, we are putting life of the people working outside the building in the open sky in danger and have no control.
So, considering the safety of working at height especially in the air outside the building there is need for better specification, better control on imports and better standards on allowing the companies to sale their products in India.
What sort of competencies you have developed to give better services despite all these challenges?We have three companies. Cradle Runways is an engineering company involved in manufacturing of access equipment for all kinds of facades and installing it. Initially, we started by importing as a distributor. But realising the difficulties in importing and providing end-to-end services, we started manufacturing locally with technological tie-up with U.K.-based Cradle Runways International. In last two decades, we have developed efficient and cost-effective products which are most suitable for Indian market.
We also provide service for cleaning the building. Technoclean (I) Pvt. Ltd. (TIL) is India’s first company in the field of façade cleaning and maintenance services. We have pioneered ‘Spiderman’ (abseiling technique) in India. We are servicing over 300 clients in 17 cities across India and cleaning over a crore square feet a month.
In addition, we have rental equipment for going from ground to up. TSP Access Rentals is India’s largest access rental company offering construction platforms and other access equipment to the building, glazing and painting industries in most cities in India.
Do you have any training centre for operators training?We have a training centre along with our factory in Khopoli, Maharashtra. Today we have more than 50 trained operators in market who have been certified and are practicing.
We are practicing safety very extensively. We don’t permit our workmen who are working on the height for cleaning to work beyond 8 hours to avoid accident due to tiredness. We clock the rope and access equipment. We feel manufacturing a machine, giving it to people and then not bothering about its functioning and safety is wrong.
What sort of safety features you expect in access equipment?The equipment should be such that it should have more reasons to stop than work. The equipment should be tamper proof because the operators have a tendency to do short cut.  Equipment like cradle should have tamper proof features include limit switch and over load device.
Practice and safety comes with certain cost, so is the market ready to welcome such costs?I am sure that they are ready to pay for safety. Today people are willing to pay a clear cut outline difference for safer equipment. But, there are some people who go for cheaper equipment those may be quite unsafe. There should be better methodology in procuring equipment. We all need to remember that the safety is not the only criteria, it’s the sum total. The people will always pay for the safety.
Should the developers and architects consult with façade maintenance players during conceptualising any project?It is absolutely necessary. There are developers and architects who send us their preliminary rough sketches to check feasibility for maintenance. They have to provide techno economically viable project to the client. 
Developers who are constructing iconic buildings they have to remember that such buildings will sustain if the façade is accessed and kept cleaned. 
For example, ILFS, an iconic building done by Architect Hafeez Contractor, is a piece of architectural excellence. Obviously they have to look at its maintenance. They have an ideal system to reach the various areas of façade.
We have provided state-of-the-art, ideally suited, safe systems to suit the requirements of international airports in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.  
Today, we are proud to say that let the architect imagine and provide his expressions in the design of the building  – we will provide a system to reach each and every square foot of the building.