GUWAHATI: In sync with the state Cabinet’s decision on Tuesday, the Assam excise department is gearing up to make hand sanitisers available at affordable rates in the open market.
State excise minister Parimal Suklabaidya said that the department would lend all cooperation in the ongoing battle against COVID-19 and distribute such hand sanitisers among frontline workers engaged in various emergency services free of cost.
“The Cabinet has taken an important decision regarding making hand sanitisers available in the common market and accordingly we shall make them available in the market at rates prescribed by the central government,” Suklabaidya said.
“Our team of excise officials also handed over 72 bottles (of 500ml each) of hand sanitisers to the health department in our effort to tackle COVID-19,” the minister said.
It may be mentioned that distilleries in Assam which had closed operations because of the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus, are now on the job to supply 5 lakh litres of hand sanitisers free of cost to the state government to fight the virus.
The state excise department had signed agreements with 11 private factories to supply hand sanitisers in bulk, a move prompted by the increasing demand for the item in the wake of the pandemic. Worse still, low-quality hand sanitisers were reportedly sold at high rates by unscrupulous traders.
“These distilleries are manufacturing 100 per cent pure, alcohol-based sanitisers at a no-profit cost of Rs 160 per litre. The quality of the sanitisers is being tested at various laboratories as well. Besides, they are being made in accordance with the norms laid by the World Health Organisation (WHO),” Suklabaidya said.
According to WHO standards, hand sanitisers should have at least 60 per cent ethanol or isopropyl alcohol for them to be effective against coronavirus.
An advisory on the use the hand sanitisers was also posted on social media recently.