Govt asks distilleries /sugar mills to maximise manufacture of hand sanitizers

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Central and State Governments are taking all steps to ensure supply of essential items during the lockdown to combat the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). In order to prevent spread of coronavirus, hand sanitisers are used by public, health workers, hospitals etc.

Demand of sanitisers is increasing day by day and in order to maintain demand and supply balance, State Government authorities including Excise Commissioners, Cane Commissioners, Drug Controllers as well as District Collectors of various states have been advised to remove any bottlenecks in supply of ethanol/ENA to manufacturers of hand sanitisers and to give permissions /licenses to the applicants including distilleries who intend to manufacture hand sanitisers. Distilleries/ Sugar mills which can produce hand sanitisers in bulk have also been motivated to produce the same. These manufacturers have also been asked to work in three shifts to maximis their output.

About 45 distilleries and 564 other manufacturers have been granted permission to produce hand sanitisers; more than 55 distilleries are likely to be given permission in one or two days; and many more are being motivated to produce sanitisers in this scenario. Most of them have commenced production and others are likely to commence production in a week’s time; thus there will be sufficient supply of hand sanitisers for the consumers and hospitals, according to a PIB release.

In order to ensure that hand sanitisers are made available to general public and hospitals at a reasonable price, Government has also fixed the Maximum Retail Price  of sanitisers. The retail prices of hand sanitisers shall not be more than Rs 100 per bottle of 200ml; the prices of other quantities of hand sanitisers shall be fixed in the proportion of these prices.