In a bid to curb the overcharging of hand sanitisers amid panic-buying due to the novel coronavirus, the government has capped the prices of sanitiser bottles at ₹100.
Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan tweeted on Friday, March 20, that a 200 ml bottle of hand sanitizer cannot be sold for more than ₹100. He added that the price of 2 ply (surgical) mask cannot be more than ₹8 per piece while that of 3 ply (surgical) mask cannot exceed ₹10.
“Other sizes of bottles will also be priced in the same proportion. These prices will be applicable throughout the country till 30 June 2020,” he said in the tweet.
हैंड सेनिटाइजर की 200 ML बोतल की खुदरा कीमत 100 रु. से अधिक नहीं होगी। अन्य आकार की बोतलों की कीमत भी इसी अनुपात में रहेंगी। ये कीमतें 30 जून 2020 तक पूरे देश में लागू रहेंगी। 3/3@drharshvardhan@narendramodi#IndiaFightsCorona
The Minister’s tweets came close on the heels of complaints by users on social media that masks and sanitisers were selling sanitisers at very high prices.
Last week, the government declared face masks and hand sanitisers as essential commodities for the next 100 days in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, the Centre invoked the Disaster Management Act to ensure price regulation and availability of surgical and protective masks, hand sanitisers and gloves.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the total number of active coronavirus cases in the country has reached 231, as of Saturday, March 20.