coimbatore the district administration has rejected 1075 lakh face masks which were meant for the state governments free mask scheme as they were of substandard qualityunder the scheme ration cardholders would be issued two face masks per family member through the public distribution shops to implement the scheme the district required 5283 lakh face masks 4345 lakh for urban areas and 938 lakh for rural areasthe distribution process had commenced in the district in september an officer with the office of the district supply officer said they had distributed 3334 lakh face masks 3149 lakh in urban areas and 185 lakh in rural areas so far we have been receiving face masks in batches since august once they reach us they would be sent to the handloom department for quality check and the ones that fail to satisfy the government parameters would be rejected we have rejected 1075 lakh masks 925 lakh in urban areas and 150 lakh in rural areas so far the official said a source with the district administration said the masks were checked for their quality at the laboratory of the south india textile research association at the laboratory fabric count of the mask would be identified to determine its thickness and fibre content would be analysed to check whether its 100 cotton or not both the tests are done separately for the weft and warp yarn basic components used in weaving to turn yarn into fabric of the maskas per the government guidelines the masks should be made of 100 cotton fabric and the count of both the weft and warp yarn should be 240