100 distilleries and more than 500 manufacturers permitted to produce hand sanitizers by Government

Delhi: Central and State Governments are taking all steps to ensure the supply of essential items during the lockdown to combat the novel Coronavirus. In order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, hand sanitizers are used by the public, health workers, hospitals, etc. The demand of sanitizers 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 the supply of ethanol/ENA to manufacturers of hand sanitizers and to give permissions /licenses to the applicants including distilleries who intend to manufacture hand sanitizers. Distilleries/ Sugar mills that can produce hand sanitizers in bulk have also been motivated to manufacture hand sanitizers. These manufacturers have also been asked to work in three shifts to maximize their output.