Pune: In the fight against the corona pandemic, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has come forward with an initiative to manufacture and distribute a special face-shield to protect the corona warriors including the health care service providers, police personnel and government officials who have been working round the clock for citizens in this situation.
The robust face shield is an important part of the Proactive Personal Equipment (PPE) kit, which is needed by healthcare and emergency service providers. It will also allow the corona warriors to build their own face shield in just two minutes.
The idea is nurtured under the guidance of ARAI Director Rashmi Urdhwareshe. ARAI manufactures about 20,000 special Face-Shields, out of which the ARAI team has donated over 2000 Face-Shields to Pune city Mayor Murlidhar Mohol for distribution to the personnel engaged in essential services.
ARAI members including General Manager Ujjwala Karle, Senior Deputy Director Nitin Dhande, Senior Deputy Director Dr Mohan Uchgaonkar, Managers Ashwin Subramaniam and Ravindra Shah, Engineers Rajesh Saini and Rathin Shah were present during this event.
Ujjwala Karle said, “It is our responsibility as a society to protect the people who have been performing essential services during this critical time. As products like hand sanitizers, PPE kits, including Face-Shields, are necessary for these service providers. ARAI keeping that in mind has created this Face-Shield. Compared to others available in the market, this shield is strong but light in weight, 100 per cent transparent, long-lasting, often reusable, will cover the entire face, is resistant to heat and chemicals and is scratch proof and sterilized. Anybody will be able to make and use this Face-Shield for themselves in just two minutes.”
“Robust polycarbonate sheets have been used for this Face-Shield, which can be adjusted according to a person’s face and will provide clear visibility and its effect will be several times higher than other Face-Shields,” she said.
“We are committed to providing 20,000 shields to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). In addition to this, we are coming up with a more robust design of this product to create an improved and stronger shield,” said Nitin Dhande.
