E-Paper
Four out of 5 bottling plants in Ludhiana await liquid O2
The district has two air separation plants (ASP), which are currently catering to the need of oxygen here.
With four out of the five bottling plants in the district awaiting supply of liquid oxygen, which is currently being diverted to states such as Delhi, authorities are walking the tightrope while trying to balance the supply and demand of oxygen cylinders.
Amid the crisis, Ludhiana has offered help to neighbouring districts where the situation is grimmer. While 250 life-saving oxygen cylinders have been sent to Amritsar and Jalandhar, 25 have been sent to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr).
The district has two air separation plants (ASP), which are currently catering to the need of oxygen here.
Deputy director of local government Amit Bambi, who has been given the charge of monitoring the oxygen supply, said, “Roughly speaking, the demand of oxygen cylinders, which was around 300 cylinders a day in the beginning of the year, has gone up to 2,000 cylinders a day now. While our two ASP units are generating roughly 1, 600 cylinders of oxygen a day, the gap of around 400 cylinders is being met from the one functional bottling unit, which has 500 MT of liquid oxygen in its stock.”
“We have requested the government for liquid oxygen so that the rest of the bottling plants can also be made operational to meet the demand,” said Bambi.
He added that in a huge respite, the five big hospitals in the city -- Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Christian Medical College and Hospital, SPS Hospital, Fortis and Mohandai Oswal Hospital – have a direct supply of oxygen. It is the smaller ones that require oxygen cylinders.
Supply regulated, prices revised
The doctors of private hospitals said the supply of oxygen has been regulated.
Former president of Punjab Medical Council and member of the core committee of the Alliance of Doctors on Ethical Healthcare (ADEH), Dr Gurinder Grewal, said the price of oxygen has been revised. “Not only has the supply been regulated, the cost of filling oxygen has also been revised. In March, we could get oxygen cylinders refilled for ₹250, but now, it is available at a revised rate of ₹400 per refill.”
Gagandeep Singh, owner of Weltech Equipment and Infrastructure Limited, said while the rate of refilling of cylinders from air separation units have not been revised, the bottling units have revised the prices from the back-end.
