With the help of railway employees and their family members, South Western Railway has produced 70,451 face masks and 9,532 litres of sanitisers for the use of its employees, RPF personnel and freight service workers and others.

According to a release issued by the South Western Railway, the manufacture of face masks and sanitisers was part of the all-out efforts by the railway zone to supplement the health care initiatives of the Union government.

Many of the railway employees and their family members had volunteered to produce face masks and as on June 7, they have manufactured 70,451 face masks, the release said.

Employees of workshops in Hubballi and Mysuru and the railway divisions of Hubballi, Bengaluru and Mysuru and their family members were involved in the manufacture of the masks and sanitisers.

The face masks being manufactured at the stitching and furbishing section of the workshops, were made using cotton cloth with bands for adjustments.

The sanitisers are being prepared at the laboratories of the railway workshops as per the composition prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of surgical spirit, Aloevera gel, Glycerol and scent.

Apart from the railway officials and employees, masks and sanitisers are provided to contract labourers working at loading and unloading points.

Hands-free dispensers

The Chief Public Relations Officer of South Western Railway said in the release that the railway workshops in the zone had also fabricated simple tap-and-hand spray dispensers to help employees wash hands and apply sanitiser without any contact.

Both the tap-and-hand spray sanitiser dispensers are mechanically linked to pedals fixed at the bottom of a stand and can be operated by pressing the pedals, according to the release.