Mumbai: In a continuous attempt to tackle the spread of the dreaded Covid-19 outbreak, the Indian Railways has ramped up in-house production of masks and sanitisers to supplement the health care efforts of the government of India and ensure utmost safety of the railway staff who are reporting on duty in these times of trials.
As of April 1, the Indian Railways has produced 25,806 litres of sanitisers and 287,704 face masks in its zonal railway production units.
The Central and Western Railway zones have taken the lead in the mass production of these necessities. While the Central Railway has produced 2,693 litres of sanitisers along with 22,580 masks, the Western Railway has produced a remarkable number of 46,313 masks and 700 litres of sanitisers.
Since the Indian Railways is operating continuous freight operations to ensure essential commodities are reached in all parts of the country, there are hundreds of staffers who are working 24x7. These sanitisers and masks are distributed among these staffers. The private contract labourers are also being given these facilities.
"We have started producing in-house sanitisers and masks because this would be quick and cost effective. Also, with the increased demand of these products we didn’t want to pressurise the private suppliers in this situation" said an Indian Railway spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the Indian Railway has also ensured that there will be no interruption in the supply of essential goods. BetweenMarch23 and April 4, Railway has transported 1342 wagons of sugar, 958 wagons of salt and 378 tanks of edible oil to different parts of the country.
The Railway authorities are closely monitoring the freight services and the issues regarding the loading and unloading operations which were being faced atthe terminal stations are now being solved.
