The Centre has asked the distilleries and sugar mills to maximize the production of hand sanitizers. It has granted permission to 100 distilleries and more than 500 manufacturers to produce hand sanitizers across the country in a bid to tackle the present shortage.
The Centre has asked the state government authorities including Excise Commissioners, Cane Commissioners, Drug Controllers and District Collectors to remove bottlenecks in supply of ethanol/extra neutral alcohol to manufacturers of hand sanitizers. They have been asked to give permissions/licenses to the applicants including distilleries who intend to manufacture hand sanitizers. This is needed in order to maintain demand and supply when the demand of sanitizers is increasing day by day amidst coronavirus outbreak across the country.
Distilleries/sugar mills which can produce hand sanitizers in bulk have been motivated to produce hand sanitizers and they have been asked to work in three shifts to maximize their output.
“About 45 distilleries and 564 other manufacturers have been granted permission to produce hand sanitizers, more than 55 distilleries are likely to be given approval in one or two days. Many more are being motivated to produce sanitizers in this scenario,’’ sources in the central government said. Most of these distilleries and producers have commenced production and others will start in a week’s time which will increase the supply.
Sources said the government has already fixed the maximum retail price of sanitizers, which would not be more than Rs 100 per bottle of 200 ml. This has been done to ensure that hand sanitizers are made available to the general public and hospitals at a reasonable price. The government will soon fix the prices of other quantities of hand sanitizers in the proportion of these prices.
