The BMC-run power laundry established in 1965 is even today the first and only one in the country to be run by a municipal corporation. With a capacity to wash 20,000 clothes daily and a record of delivering linen, washed and dried, in 48 hours, it is a one-of-its-kind power laundry in the country.

Located at Bhoiwada the power laundry was necessitated by the large number of dispensaries and hospitals the civic body runs. “The clothes from the hospital are not to be washed with others as there is the possibility of spreading infection. With this view, the laundry was set up,” says assistant chemist Chandrakant Ahire who oversees daily operations at the laundry.

The power laundry has a British connection too—in its initial phase, much of the infrastructure came from machinery handed over by the military camp located at Bhoiwada. “The military camp had its own laundry used for washing, drying and pressing clothes for the armymen. After the camp shifted base, these pieces of machinery were handed over to the BMC in 1957. Some of these are still utilised here,” Ahire says.

After starting with two calender machines, four hydro-extracters and six press machines from the British military camp, the power laundry has expanded with automated and semi-automated facilities. Presently, the power laundry has 12 washing machines with a capacity of 56 kg to 100 kg, two calender machines, 14 press machines, five tumble-dry machines and two dryers as well as two boilers.

The laundry follows a WHO-standardised process of cleaning. The BMC’s Executive Health Officer Dr Jairaj Thanekar says the laundry is one of the finest anywhere in the country. “Clothes from 62 hospitals, dispensaries and clinics are washed, including those from KEM, Nair, Sion, GT, Sewri and Rajawadi hospitals,” he says.

The laundry has been following the same procedure since its establishment, disinfecting clothes scientifically. The clothes are first sorted by 165 workers into various categories—flats (napkins, table cloths, bed sheets, towels), body linen (pyjamas, skirts, shirts), doctor linen (green and white clothes used during surgeries) and dirty linen (patients’ clothes). They are then put in washing machines with a soda-based soap, with beaching solution and whitening agent added later.

The clothes are then placed in a hydroextracter to squeeze out 70 per cent of the water before being dried and ironed. Officials at the laundry add that clothes from hospitals treating patients with contagious diseases are first sterilised before being processed.

At one go, as many as 150 pieces of clothing can be twisted and twirled, tumble-dried and then folded before being sorted once again into various categories to be dispatched to respective hospitals. They are delivered back to hospitals in 48 hours flat.

There are plans for the future too: With the use of 250 kilo-litres of water every day, the civic administration is now planning to set up a rain water harvesting plant. To wash a city’s dirty linen, an ecologically sustainable solution is coming soon.