When the economic cost of alcohol is taken into consideration and people start consuming adulterated one either knowingly or unknowingly, human lives are lost in many cases and permanent disabilities might also take place.
One of the worst examples is former District Medical and Health Officer K.V.N.S. Anil Kumar inadvertently consuming a sanitiser taking it for water due to similar packaging. However, he recovered from that within a month.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police G. Veeraraghava Reddy, the Police, SEB and Drugs Control Department officials have been jointly keeping a tab on the sale of alcohol-based sanitisers and all retailers have been asked to prefer selling gel-based sanitisers, which cannot be used for consuming orally.
"For making costly alcohol, Extra Neutral Alcohol is utilised blending it with palatable extracts for taste, but the residue from the ENA, or aldehyde and rectified spirit available for a cheaper cost for industrial use is generally mixed with alcohol, which makes it more toxic and harmful for human consumption," says Anantapur Assistant Director, Drug Control, Pullagarula Ramesh Reddy.
Unauthorised units
There is no officially licensed alcohol-based sanitiser manufacturing unit in Anantapur, but some have been making it at small unauthorised units for three months. With the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) officials given the task of curbing all such activity, including unauthorised sale, many have shut units.
Rampant sale of sanitisers has forced the SEB Additional Superintendent of Police J. Rammohan Rao to hold a meeting with 200 druggists and chemists in the district and warn them against unauthorised sale. All of them have been advised to keep track of all sanitiser buyers recording their phone numbers and taking Aadhaar numbers.
