Haryana resumes alcohol production to fulfil demand for hand sanitiser amid coronavirus pandemic

Alcohol production in Haryana has begun at full capacity to ensure a stable supply of the commodity which is used for manufacturing hand sanitisers and that two lakh proof litre is being transported to various states every day, state's Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said here on Tuesday.

Hand sanitisers are in great demand as the country grapples with coronavirus pandemic. Doctors and experts have advised people to frequently use hand sanitiser, among other things, to check the spread of the highly contagious novel coronavirus. "A major portion of the alcohol industry's production is used in making sanitisers. The stock of 70 lakhs proof litre that we had was transported in the amount of 2 lakh proof litre every day to various states for manufacturing sanitisers," Chautala told ANI here.

He said the supply of alcohol to other states has created a shortage in Haryana so the state government decided to resume its production.

"As we have been supplying alcohol to other states, it created a shortage here so the health and spirit industry requested us to resume the production in the state. That is why we took the decision of restarting the alcohol industry at full capacity," he said.

On Saturday, State Excise Commissioner had ordered liquor factories to start the production of alcohol.

According to Union Health Ministry, 185 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Haryana, including 29 cured and three deaths. The 21-day nationwide lockdown in India, which was imposed till April 14, has been extended till May 3 with strict restrictions in place till April 20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a decision on easing restrictions will be taken after a week, only at places which do not have COVID-19 hotspots.