An entrepreneur in Chhattisgarh has developed in association with a women's Self Help Group (SHG) a hand sanitizer liquid with alcohol distilled from Mahua flowers as its main ingredient.
Hand sanitizers are currently in great demand as their use to clean hands helps keep COVID-19 at bay.
Yellow coloured Mahua flowers are one of the major forest products during summer. They are also believed to have medicinal properties.
"The idea to develop hand sanitizer from Mahua spirit came to me when I could not obtain enough hand sanitizer liquid for the employees at my petrol pump," said Samarth Jain, who runs a company in Jashpur which makes agricultural and herbal products.
"Mahua trees are found in abundance in Jashpur area. Tribals make country liquor from its flowers. I thought we can use a more purified and distilled form of Mahua spirit as sanitizer in this period of crisis," he said.
"After obtaining permission from the district administration and forest department, we roped in a local Self Help Group named Singani and developed sanitizer samples in three days," he said.
"The forest department supplied the raw materials and so far we have manufactured about 30 litres of hand sanitizer on a trial basis," he added.
The liquid, packed in 100 ml bottles, was distributed to police personnel deployed on lockdown duty, he added.
"We are hoping to get a license and certification for its mass production. The SHG will carry out production," he added.
Jashpur Collector Nilesh Kumar Kshirsagar said the sanitizer made from Mahua spirit is completely herbal and has no side effects. "The alcohol content is as per the World Health Organization guidelines," he added.