The East Singhbhum district administration is planning doorstep delivery of hand sanitisers for the elderly and disabled in the steel city even as it continues free distribution of sanitisers for the poor across the district.

District planning officer Ajay Kumar, who is monitoring the sanitiser distribution work, on Friday said that they would be announcing a mobile number on which the elderly and the disabled can WhatsApp or call to place orders for 200ml hand sanitiser bottles which would be delivered on their doorstep through volunteers of the Indian Red Cross Society's Jamshedpur chapter.

“It is aimed at facilitating provision of sanitisers for senior citizens and the disabled who face problems in moving out of their house. They can place their order along with their address either through WhatsApp or on the mobile phone and their order would be delivered within 24 hours at their home. However, this facility would only be for the disabled and senior citizens who face problems in movement and are alone,” said Ajay Kumar.

The official further claimed that the sanitisers made by students of NIT Jamshedpur with raw materials arranged by the district administration and priced at Rs 20 per bottle have been made available for free to poor persons across the district.

“We have provided nearly 50,000 sanitisers for free to the poor in the 11 blocks of the district. The sanitisers manufactured by students of NIT Jamshedpur at the Sakchi office of the Indian Red Cross has been distributed to all the 11 blocks and are kept at the block development office.Any poor person can approach the office to get sanitisers for free. Only those who can afford can pay Rs 20 for each bottle,” said Ajay Kumar.

The administration has also lined up free distribution of sanitisers to the poor in the steel city through NGOs while the sanitisers are kept for sale (each bottle priced at Rs 20) at the Indian Red Cross Society's Jamshedpur chapter office in Sakchi.

The chapter, which has more than 100 volunteers, has also been distributing food packets for free among the needy since last month.

“We receive information about the needy along with their location from the

Covid-19 control room at Sakchi and our volunteers rush with food packets to that location,” said Red Cross Jamshedpur chapter official Vijay Singh. “So far, we have distributed over 30,000 packets,” he added.