9 liquor factories in Raj allowed to produce sanitisers

Nine liquor factories in Rajasthan will be allowed to produce sanitisers to curb black marketing amid a high demand of disinfectants in the country due to the novel coronavirus.

The Rajasthan government recently issued licence to five units of the government-run Ganganagar Sugar Mills besides four private companies to start production of sanitisers.

The five units of the state-run mill are in Mandore (Jodhpur), Kota, Hanumangarh, Jhotwara (Jaipur) and Udaipur. The private companies are in Alwar and Jaipur districts.

"We have released first batch 2.70 lakh bottles of 180 ml sanitiser today to Bhilwara. Our production capacity will increase to 5 lakh bottles per day from tomorrow, which will subsequently rise to 10 lakh bottles per day in coming three days after private companies start their production," Prithvi Raj, the director of Ganganagar Sugar Mills, told PTI.

He said there is a demand from Delhi and Bihar as well and it will be his effort to provide sanitiser "once we reach a saturation level" in Rajasthan.

Initially, sanitisers will be made available free of cost in government offices, police and other services. Later, it will be available at a much cheaper prices than it is available in the market, he said.

The demand for sanitisers and masks has shot up in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Amid reports of black marketing, the state government decided to rope in state-run distilleries to produce alcohol-based sanitisers.