TUMAKURU: While most industries have taken a beating due to the COVID-19 crisis, firms making disinfection tunnels are sensing a window of opportunity. Many of these tunnels have already been installed in several parts of the country.
A Bengaluru based agency linked to the manufacturers in Ghaziabad has quoted a pirce of Rs 99,000, with an additional 18 percent GST. The delivery of the portable tunnel takes 10-12 days while its validity is 45 days.
Another company based in Pune has introduced tunnels of three different sizes with a range of prices: Rs 13,800, Rs 24,400 and Rs 29,500. But customers are wary of getting supplies from Pune as it has been badly hit by the virus.
Yet another firm which has supplied one unit to the Swami Vivekananda Integrated Rural Hospital at Pavagada promises a fully automatic tunnel.
Meanwhile, the administration in Tumakuru has taken the help of a final year BE biotechnology student Chidananda H N of Siddaganga Institute of Technology (SIT) here who fabricated a cost-effective semi-automatic tunnel. He spent about Rs 50,000 on the project with a 500-litre capacity tank to supply the disinfectant.
A Bengaluru based firm has also claimed to have invented a biosolvent for use in these tunnels. It has supplied the solvent to the tunnel outside the silk cocoon market at Shidlaghatta.
It may be noted here that the director of public health and preventive medicine, Chennai, in a circular in April 11 said, "Disinfection tunnels will create a false sense of security and people may be diverted from handwashing. In addition, the spraying of alcohol/chlorine/Lysol on human beings is not only harmful but also ineffective."
Meanwhile, a sugar distillery in Mudhol owned by former minister and Bilgi MLA Murugesh Rudrappa Nirani has called for pan-Karnataka distributors for the new brand of sanitiser it is manufacturing.