With sharp rise in the demand for hand sanitisers owing to spread of coronavirus, private sugar mills in the state have sought drug licence to manufacture the product at their captive distilleries.
All major private sugar companies like Balrampur Chini, Birla, Dalmia and Dhampur have already applied for the licence while several others are in the process of following suit.
The sugar companies have already proposed to manufacture more than 15,000 litres of hand sanitisers a day in their distilleries across UP. Of these, Dhampur and Birla would produce an estimated 5,000 litres and 4,000 litres respectively, whereas Balrampur, Uttam and
Daurala groups have proposed to produce 2,000 litres each of hand sanitiser.
“The process of granting licences to these units has been expedited owing to the contingency due to coronavirus outbreak. The movement of goods — hand sanitiser raw material and finished goods — has been exempted from restrictions imposed due to lockdown,” a senior UP Sugarcane department official said.
Secretary of UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA), Deepak Guptara, said that of the 94 private sugar mills, about 40 had captive distilleries both in big groups and standalone mills.
Meanwhile, some sugar companies have proposed to produce only hand sanitisers in bulk and supply it to other firms for bottling and marketing. Besides, sugar mills have firmed up contracts to supply ethanol/ethyl alcohol/extra neutral alcohol (ENA) to external sanitiser units inside and outside the state.
Last week, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) had written to the Centre assuring it that the domestic sugar industry would supply adequate quantity of ethanol or extra neutral alcohol (ENA) as per requirement for use in the manufacture of hand sanitisers.
Recently, local drug manufacturers had claimed that isopropyl alcohol (IPA) used in hand sanitisers was being blackmarketed in the state and thus inhibiting their plans to increase production.
UP Drug Manufacturers Association (UPDMA) president Prashant Bhatiya said that IPA was being sold for Rs 360 per litre in the black market in UP against its normal price of Rs 95 per litre.
Hand sanitisers could also be effectively manufactured with ethanol/ethyl alcohol/ENA as advised by World Health Organisation (WHO). Bhatiya alleged there were bottlenecks in the supply of ethanol from state distilleries as well.
The UPDMA has already written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to facilitate availability of raw materials in the state and pledged to manufacture hand sanitisers on a ‘war footing’ to meet the growing demand.
The UP government has urged surgical mask and hand sanitiser production units operating in the state to augment production by working in three shifts a day even as new units were promised speedier approvals.