AMBALA: An Indian American entrepreneur has founded a company, Cleanxa , to fulfill the huge shortage of face masks and face shields and other protective equipment in the United States (US) during the Covid-19 pandemic.Gurinder Singh Khalsa, 46, of Adhoi village in Ambala district, presently settled in Indianapolis, Indiana in America founded a company called Cleanxa with a motive to fulfill the demand. Gurinder started producing, selling and freely distributing washable/reusable face masks, replaceable filters for face masks, reusable safety gowns and protective face shields online through a website.Gurinder said, “Recently, Cleanxa has announced a ‘mask to work’ initiative and first of a kind ‘drive-thru masks facility’ to fulfill huge demand across the United States. We are supplying the products to wholesalers, retailers, grocery stores all over the USA. We want to get the masks into the hands of the people who need them as quickly and cheaply as possible.”Talking about the per day production, Gurinder said, “Initially, we started from 10,000 face masks per day and 15,000 face shields per week. But now, Cleanxa is producing around 50,000 masks; 10,000 face shields and around 2,000 body protective gowns per day.”Gurinder said, “Around 500 families are dependent on the project and people are producing masks from their homes which are distributed in a sanitary fashion. We started a homemade revolution where people are making products at home and creating income independently.”Gurinder told, “After the Covid-19 outbreak, my wife and I were firstly horrified, then deeply saddened to learn that the first responders (medical frontline workers) had to use garbage bags and pillow covers for protection from the contagious virus. We wanted to help in any way, so I founded Cleanxa – which is now employing hundreds of family members from across Indiana.”Talking further about free mask distribution, Gurinder said, “One of the ways we are giving back is by providing free masks to those risking their own health to protest us and our communities. These include first responders, law enforcement agencies, and health care workers. We have started a drive-thru at Emerson Way, Indianapolis so that customers and officials can pick up their masks.”A while back Gurinder had hit the news when he received the Rosa Parks Trailblazer award in January 2019, in recognition of his the campaign that forced the US authorities to change policy towards the turban of Sikh community.