Army officer, wife in Himachal's Yol Cantt develop hand sanitiser for troops

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 18

Under the ongoing ‘Operation Namaste’ launched by the Indian Army to fight against the pandemic of COVID-19, one of the electronics and mechanical engineers’ workshop of the Rising Star Corps based at Yol in Himachal Pradesh has successfully manufactured a sanitiser which is alcohol and aloe vera based, thus contributing towards preventive measures for the troops.

The project has been executed by Major Rohit Rathee and wife Srishti Singh. Major Rathee is serving with a Field Workshop Company and his wife is a full-time research scholar pursuing her PhD in gel-based bio sensors solution at Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, in Tamil Nadu.

The formulation of sanitiser is based on WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care. So far, 809 litres of sanitiser has been prepared. The cost of the product is Rs 320 per litre, which is less than 50 per cent of the market price.

The production capability at present is 100 litres a day, which can be scaled up depending on the availability and quality of various chemicals in the local market. This initiative is solely for the welfare of troops of the Army and is based on no profit no loss model.