Creating record: Bengal Chemicals produces 51,960 pheneol bottles in a day

Kolkata: In its constant efforts to scale up production of pheneol, the demand for which has increased mani -fold since the outbreak of COVID-19, Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Ltd (BCPL) created an all time record by producing 51,960 pheneol bottles on a single day in its manufacturing unit at Panihati, North 24-Parganas.

"It is an all time record in the 120 year history of BCPL. In July 2020 we had managed to produce 38,000 pheneol bottles in a single day. In a month's time we have scaled it up further and now we can produce more than 50,000 pheneol bottles in a single day. 51,960 bottles were produced on Sunday," said P M Chandraiah, Director (Finance), BCPL. The employees will work till October 20 (puja holidays) on all Sundays and holidays to cater to the huge demand of this cleanliness product.

They will be working in two shifts on all days for the next two months, braving the Covid pandemic situation.

A senior official of BCPL said that the PSU used to produce 15,000 bottles per day before Covid period. "The monthly sales of our pheneol was to the tune of Rs 3 to 3.5 crores monthly. This has gone up to the range of Rs 4.5 to 6 crores a month since the Covid outbreak which is a clear indication of the huge demand of the product," said the

official.

Founded by legendary chemist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy in 1901, the PSU has two units in Bengal one at Maniktala and another at Panihati while the other two located outside Bengal are at Kanpur and Dadar.

In 2016, the sale of land for the central PSU was decided by the Union cabinet challenging which Bengal Chemical Sromik Kormochari Union has moved the Calcutta High Court.