UP to do oxygen audit with help from top institutes

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the state government will conduct oxygen audit with the assistance of IIT- Kanpur, IIM-Lucknow and IIT-Banaras Hindu University

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the state government will conduct oxygen audit with the assistance of IIT- Kanpur, IIM-Lucknow and IIT-Banaras Hindu University. He also said the state will soon have 32 new oxygen plants of which 18 will be based on DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) technology.

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Reacting to the move on oxygen audit, a spokesperson for Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) said, “We are more than happy to assist the UP government in any way we can in these times of crisis. A team will be formed and assigned this task once an official communication in this regard is received by us.”

The Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) also assured full cooperation in the oxygen audit.

“We are yet to receive an official communication from the state government,” its spokesperson said.

IIT-BHU director Prof PK Jain said, “A team of experts will be constituted for the oxygen audit as soon as we receive any communication from the government in this regard.”

The chief minister announced the oxygen audit a day after launching a digital platform for monitoring oxygen supply.

For his part, he asked officials to strike a balance between demand and supply of oxygen.

He also asked officials to “distribute oxygen in a transparent manner.”

He also said the Covid-19 hospitals being set up by DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) in Lucknow and Varanasi will soon be ready and functional, said a state government statement quoting the chief minister.

He noted that medical oxygen supply to Uttar Pradesh was being augmented not only from Bokaro (Jharkhand) but also from Modinagar (UP), Kashipur and Roorkee (Uttarakhand) and Panipat (Haryana).

“Ensure oxygen supply to small districts such as Bahraich, Firozabad from their district headquarters. Oxygen is being transported to various districts such as Gorakhpur and Bareilly through tankers. Ensure GPS (global position system) tracking of the tankers and make security arrangements for them. No patient should suffer because of a lack of oxygen. Keep an eye on all small or big hospitals in the state,” he added.

“Provide oxygen even to those who require it in home isolation. The state government will ensure oxygen sufficiency everywhere in the state,” he said.

Yogi said oxygen will be given to anyone who has doctor’s prescription for it.

The chief minister said oxygen refilling and oxygen-producing MSME units should be connected directly with the hospitals for smoother supply.

“There is no crisis of oxygen in the government and private hospitals. Hoarding and black marketeering has led to the shortage. Some of the hospitals announced that they were facing oxygen shortage. When the state government teams checked the premises, enough oxygen was found in the stock. Due to the fear being created by such hospitals, the panicked people are trying to get an oxygen cylinder,” he said later in the day.

Additional chief secretary (Home) Awasthi said the oxygen monitoring system had started functioning. In a video conference on Saturday, the Uttar Pradesh authorities apprised the central government about the new monitoring system launched by the state.

The central government appreciated the UP initiative, he said, adding that the representatives of Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra showed interest in the monitoring system launched by UP.