The East Coast Railway (ECoR)has started manufacturing masks and hand sanitisers in its workshops, sheds and depots, besides converting coaches into quarantine facilities in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak, it said in a statement on Saturday.All three ECoR divisions Khurda Road, Waltair and Sambalpur are utilising their resources for the effort, it said.The Waltair division has manufactured 20,000 masks and 300 litres of hand sanitisers at the diesel locomotive shed in Visakhapatnam, the statement said.The Khurda Road division has produced 700 masks at coaching depots in Bhubaneswar and Puri and 50 litres of alcohol-based hand sanitisers in the electric locomotive shed at Angul, it said.In Sambalpur division, 2,414 masks have been manufactured with effort of the engineering, commercial and mechanical departments and 10 litres of hand sanitisers have been produced at the coaching depot in Sambalpur, the statement said.The Mancheswar workshop has produced 1,200 masks and 70 litres of hand sanitisers, it said.The hand sanitisers are being produced as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) formula, containing isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerine and distilled water, the statement said.The cost of in-house production of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, which will be supplied to on-duty ECoR staff, is one-tenth of the item's market price, it said.The ECoR is also ensuring the supply of coal for power plants, food grains for the public distribution system and petroleum products for the transportation sector, it added.
