The Centre said on Tuesday that it has increased medical oxygen supply by four times in the past six weeks. The government statement comes in response to reports of shortage of oxygen supply from across the country.
Yesterday, the first Oxygen Express carrying seven empty tankers had left for Visakhapatnam where they were to be loaded with liquid oxygen for transportation to Maharashtra, a state which had been witnessing acute oxygen shortage.
“The medical oxygen supply has been increased by nearly four times from 1,273 Metric Tonne (MT) per day in the last week of Feb, 2021 to 4,739 MT/day on 17th April, 202,” a statement by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, ministry of commerce, said.
It added that the government is making efforts to expedite supply in the country by diverting the oxygen intended for industrial use to produce medical oxygen.
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“Only nine specific industries were now allowed to consume the oxygen produced,” it said. The nine industrial sectors which would be getting oxygen supply are: pharmaceuticals, petroleum refineries, steel plants, ampoules and vials, nuclear energy establishments, oxygen cylinder manufacturers, wastewater treatment plants, food and water purification, and process industries which need continuous running of furnaces.
{{/usCountry}}“Only nine specific industries were now allowed to consume the oxygen produced,” it said. The nine industrial sectors which would be getting oxygen supply are: pharmaceuticals, petroleum refineries, steel plants, ampoules and vials, nuclear energy establishments, oxygen cylinder manufacturers, wastewater treatment plants, food and water purification, and process industries which need continuous running of furnaces.
{{/usCountry}}It said the all the interstate movement of oxygen tankers has been exempted from registration of permits to enable easier movement, and a rolling tender of 50,000 MT of oxygen had been floated for importing medical oxygen.
It said the department of industries and internal trade had mapped the oxygen requirements of each state and was corresponding it with the supplies from industrial units.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a review meeting over the oxygen requirements across the nation, where he urged officials to ensure seamless and free movement of oxygen tankers.
Meanwhile, India recorded as many as 1,761 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours with over 259,000 new cases being reported in the past 24 hours. The total number of cases in the country right now stands at more than 1.53 crore.