JOIN USCOVID-19: After face masks, Kerala prisoners to now make hand sanitisers
After producing face masks, the prisoners in Kerala have geared up to manufacture hand sanitisers in view of the acute shortage of the commodity owing to COVID-19 outbreak.
Director General of Prisons Rishi Raj Singh had issued directives in this regard.
The difficulty, however, is in getting spirit-based raw materials. It is one of the major obstacles that is being faced by the prisoners in producing sanitisers on a large scale.
Prisoners at Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad have already started sanitiser production in small scales and prisoners at Kozhikode, Kannur and Thrissur prisons would also commence it in the coming days.
DIG of Prisons Santosh Kumar said that already the prisons were involved in soap and lotion making, mainly for in-house use. The sanitisers being produced would be also initially used for in-house use and would be supplied to the public through the prison outlets. The prices would be lower than market prices.
He said that over 5,000 masks were now being made daily at around 25 prisons in Kerala. It is being supplied mainly to the Kerala Health Department and other state and central government institutions. Considering the scarcity of the commodity in the open market, a limited sale to the public was also under consideration, he said.
The prisons started the face mask productions last week. The tailoring units at the prisons are making masks. Various other organisations like Kudumbasree units also launched face mask production.