The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has issued a notification directing the state governments to enhance production of hand sanitizers and ensure its availability to consumers.
Offices and utilities run by the Centre and the state governments have been using sanitizers a lot to contain coronavirus.
Subhodh Kumar Singh, joint secretary, sugar and administration, said in a circular that the demand for sanitizers is increasing with every passing day, and to maintain the demand-supply balance the state government/UT administrations are requested to accord necessary permissions for licensing and storage of ethyl alcohol/extra neutral alcohol( ENA). Ethanol may be supplied by the state government agencies to the sanitizer industry up to its installed capacity without any quota restriction on supply of ethyl alcohol/ENA, the circular said.
Singh said all possible arrangements should be made to ensure that ethyl alcohol/ENA is made easily available to the sanitizer industry In this regard, the Indian Sugar Mills Association and All India Distilleries Association have assured that the input materials (ethyl alcohol/ENA) of ethanol would be made available to producers of sanitizers at a reasonable price.
The sanitizer making companies should be motivated to run their units in all three shifts so that they can utilize their installed capacity to produce the maximum quantity of hand sanitizers, the joint secretary said. The sanitizer industry should also be encouraged to enhance its production capacity for which necessary permissions may be accorded by the state/UT administrations on a priority basis, he said.
When contacted, Sanjay Khatal, MD of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation, said since alcohol sanitizers are considered more effective, the sanitizer industry could contact sugar mills for ENA on a priority basis.