Punjab's textile firms develop PPE, hazmat suits amid COVID19 crisis

At a time when the medical specialists, health workers, policemen and other allied workers are lacking high-quality protective gear in their battle against COVID-19, the Punjab's textile industry has stepped forward to develop Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), especially hazmat (hazardous materials) suits, which are not only of high quality, but will be less costly as compared to the imported ones.

The Union government has placed an order for 15 lakh pieces of hazmat suits and PPE worth Rs 150 crore so far, with five textile manufacturers of Punjab, including JCT Phagwara and four textile and hosiery industry in Ludhiana.

Samples of PPE fabric manufactured by another two firms in Ludhiana have been approved by the authorised laboratory. A few Ludhiana firms have also come forward to develop ventilators and have already started working in this direction.

In the time of crisis, the textile manufacturers backed by Punjab Government came up with samples of hazmat suits just in a span of seven to ten days.

The government made arrangements to get these samples airlifted and tested at a lab in Coimbatore where these passed the mandatory tests, including the crucial blood penetration test which ensures that there is no penetration of blood or other liquids into this suit.

"The response was good from the businessmen and samples of Punjab manufacturers were transported to Delhi in a special vehicle after which these were airlifted to Coimbatore for testing at the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA). As of now, three companies have been cleared to manufacture PPE and have received large orders from central government organisations like HLL to the tunes of several hundred crores. An order of 10 lakh suits has been placed with JCT alone," said Mahesh Khanna, General Manager of Industry Centre, Ludhiana, Punjab Government.

"Many industries in Ludhiana too have come up with developing PPE and their samples are being sent for testing," he added.

Khanna said that in Punjab two industrialists have also manufactured N95 and N99 masks which have passed the test. As far as triple-layered masks are concerned, seven manufacturers from Punjab have already started the production.

"We are getting a lot of support from the ministries of textile, health and civil aviation in this entire initiative. In addition to this, we are also trying to develop ventilators locally. We have already got interested industrialists in touch with the multi-specialty hospitals like Fortis and Max so that they can get all the technical help and develop ventilators at the earliest," he added.

Vijay Goyal, Manager Shiva Spinning and Knitwear told ANI that they have been approved to make PPE suits by the State government.

"We will work according to the requirements of the government. We will develop PPEs here which will be less costly and we will be able to deliver them fast. PPEs are in high demand right now. Our samples have been approved by the government. We have also made three-layer N90 masks. Now we are making N95 masks which will be approved within two three days," he added.

Amit Jain, MD Shingora Textile told ANI that just five days before the lockdown was imposed he created a special team and started development of the PPE suits.

"Our product can be used by doctors and the workers at the frontline. It is reusable which can be used as many as 25 times. It can also be sterlized in the hospitals. It is SITRA approved as well. Our products are less costly as compared to the products developed in China," said Jain.

"We are also giving employment opportunities to our labourers. PPE suits are in high demands. Punjab Government has extended support to us," he added.