When the country is facing crisis of masks and sanitizers to contain the spread of coronavirus, women of Sakhi Mandal in Jharkhand, in eastern India, have shown the path to manufacturers by making sanitizers. The women locally called 'Didis' of Sakhi Mandal of Khunti district are making handmade sanitizers to fight against the Covid-19. With the help of District Administration, eight 'Didis' of Sakhi Mandal'have given a shape to their creative thinking at Anigada Rural Service Centre located in Panikada village of Sadar block, Khunti.

The women are not only manufacturing the sanitizers but are also doing its packaging and selling them in the market. The sanitizers have been prepared using lemongrass and Tusli leaves oil as they are popular for their medicinal values which can help in removing the germs.

These women have so far manufactured 225 litres of sanitizers which have been packed in different size of jars of 100ml, 250ml to 500ml. The alcohol content in these sanitizers is 72 per cent while glycerine constituted 13 per cent, distilled water 13 per cent and Tulsi or Lemon Grass 2 per cent.

In the next two days the production will be increased to 1000 litres per day. These women are also planning to put up road side stalls to sell these sanitizers so that they can easily reach to the people.

The roadside stalls at various places will be set up between 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. by the 'Didis' of 'Sakhi Mandal' to make the sanitizer accessible to the common people.

In Jharkahnd, there are more than 80,000 Sakhi Mandals. They are basically Self Help groups (SHG) of women who have undertaken many works in the past.

"We are procuring as per our requirement. The 100-litre production has started from today. Soon we will ensure that they get the licence. The process of licence is under process. There are some formalities to be done with regard to licensing in state pollution control board. When these issues are solved, then we will help in starting commercial production of sanitizers," Suraj Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Khuti told IANS.