Sugar sector meeting 15% oxygen demand in UP

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 28, 2021

 

Uttar Pradesh, which was among the worst affected states in the second wave of pandemic, had seen its liquid medical oxygen demand (LMO) shoot past 1,000 tonnes a day during the peak of active Covid-19 cases.

 

At that time, the state government had taken urgent measures to supplement the LMO supply with all the available sources including importing from other states, augmenting production and diverting industrial oxygen for medical usage.

 

Additionally, the state sugar sector was asked to contribute to the production of critical commodity by setting up captive oxygen manufacturing plants in sugar mills or facilitating the installation of units in the state government hospitals.

 

Rising up to the occasion, the state sugarcane and excise departments worked in tandem to expedite the process, which has now resulted in the sugar sector currently meeting nearly 15 per cent of the aggregate oxygen demand in UP.

 

So far, the authorities comprising district magistrates, chief medical officers (CMO) and the representatives of sugar and excise departments have jointly selected 80 hospitals in 75 districts to install oxygen generators. This way, oxygen supply has been ensured to about 3,250 hospitals beds to cater coronavirus patients.

 

UP additional chief secretary, excise and sugarcane, Sanjay Bhoosreddy informed today oxygen generator plants had been procured with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. “With the joint effort of the two departments, a community health centre or district hospital each has been selected through 33 units of excise department and 47 sugar mills across the state.”

Railways to raise Rs 1,900 crore by monetising land

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 27, 2021

Indian Railways arm Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is looking to raise more than Rs 1,904 crore by monetising its land assets across the country.

RLDA, a statutory body under the Ministry of Railways for the development of Railways land, has called for bids for leasing out 16 land assets across India, of which 4 are located in UP at Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

The cumulative reserved price for these 16 land parcels is nearly Rs 1,904 crore, of which the 4 properties in UP are pegged at Rs 770 crore. The Authority will lease out these land parcels to prospective developers who will develop these sites in line with local bye-laws.

RLDA vice chairman Ved Prakash Dudeja said these land parcels are ‘strategically located’ in important cities across India and hold tremendous potential for residential and commercial development. 

“These sites offer tremendous growth opportunities for investors and developers. Once completed, these sites will lead to economic development, employment generation and boost real estate prospects of the respective regions,” he noted.

Taking the catastrophic effect of the pandemic in its stride, RLDA is targeting revenue generation of Rs 2,000 crore for the Indian Railways in 2021-22, up from Rs 352 crore in the previous year.

RLDA has four key mandates as a part of its development plan viz. leasing of commercial sites, colony redevelopment, station redevelopment and multi-functional complexes.

Prominent amongst the 16 sites offered for bidding are Lucknow Railway Station Redevelopment, Ramgarh Tal Colony (Gorakhpur), land parcel at Gomti Nagar (Lucknow), land parcel near Moula Ali Flyover (Secunderabad), Boulevard Road Colony (Delhi) and land at Salt Golah (Howrah).

The Indian Railways has approximately 43,000 hectares of vacant land parcels across India. RLDA is currently handling 84 commercial (greenfield) sites and 84 railway colony redevelopment projects across India for leasing, and the eligible developers for each will be selected through an open and transparent bidding process.

Besides, RLDA is mandated with the redevelopment of railway stations and is currently working on 60 railway stations in a phased manner while its subsidiary, IRSDC, has taken up another 63 railway stations pan India.

UP readies dossier on anticipated Covid 3rd wave

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 21, 2021

 

Taking a proactive stance, the Uttar Pradesh government has prepared a dossier on the anticipated third wave of Covid-19 even as the current second wave is on the wane.

 

The research based report has been prepared by the high level UP health experts’ consultative committee, which was formed to help the government in fighting the steep second wave.

 

Presiding over a meeting on Sunday, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed senior officials to expedite arrangements and foster preparedness according to the report and its postulations ahead of the possible third wave of the pandemic.

 

The committee comprises top medical experts to advise ‘Team 9’ – the UP Covid-19 task force. It is led by Lucknow-based Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) director R K Dhiman and includes senior doctors as members.

 

Meanwhile, the state has announced if the active Covid-19 cases in any district breached the count of 600, the relaxations from the corona curfew would automatically get revoked.

 

From June 21, the state has allowed the shopping malls and restaurants to reopen subject to 50 per cent occupancy, while relaxing the night corona curfew for an additional two hours from 9 pm to 7 am. However, the weekend curfew remains across the state.

 

At the same time, the government is setting up pediatric ICU and neonatal ICU wards in all the medical colleges in wake of the third wave warning.

 

The idea is to increase the number of beds by an additional 100 in every medical college, while the district hospitals and community health centres (CHC) will also be upgraded on similar pattern to counter subsequent waves in the coming months. UP medical education minister has been asked to submit a report in this regard after taking the stock of the ground situation.

 

“The state of UP has shown that positive results could be derived against any challenge including pandemic if we dispense our responsibilities with the spirit of collective obligation,” Yogi observed.

Yogi government to harness power of social media

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 20, 2021

Ahead of the crucial 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Yogi Adityanath government will harness the power of social media for instant communication with the masses.

The departments have been directed to use popular social media platforms viz. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, WhatsApp et al for publicising the government programmes and welfare schemes by fostering speedy connect with the people.

According to UP additional chief secretary, information, Navneet Sehgal, chief minister Adityanath has stressed that the social media be extensively used to propagate government initiatives and also taking the feedback of the people to fine-tune decision making.

Taking the agenda forward, Sehgal recently presided over a meeting of all the social media nodal officers in the different government departments. The state has mandated every department to create a distinct social media handle to communicate with their respective targetted audience.

“The social media is a remarkable medium for initiating a dialogue process between the government and the people. Today, it is also vital for resolving the grievances of the people, who also use the social media channels for getting instant redress,” he noted.

Since, 2022 UP assembly elections are less than 8 months away, the Yogi government is pulling out all stops to keep the state electorate in good humour though instant communication and expediting the process of redressing grievances.

Fantasy sports brand Dream11 to invest in UP

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 18, 2021

Indian unicorn and fantasy sports platform Dream11 is looking to invest in Uttar Pradesh and promote the sports culture in the state.

The company has proposed to develop the sports ecosystem in UP by promoting the culture of sports, forging alliances and creating sports infrastructure at the local level. It will also build an enabling environment for encouraging local sports such as kabaddi, volleyball and handball.

Former Indian Cricket Team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the brand ambassador of Dream11.

According to the company, the partnerships fostered by Dream11 will also help in identifying sports talent in the remote areas of UP and to train them for mega sports events, including Olympics. Simultaneously, the company will handhold sports’ startups, and provide a rich knowledge pool regarding the technical aspect of sports.

Meanwhile, a Dream11 team on Thursday gave a virtual presentation to UP MSME and exports promotion minister Sidharth Nath Singh, who assured the company that the state government will take a call on its proposals after consulting the state sports and justice departments.

He observed the Dream11 investment will not only nurture the sports culture and foster job opportunities in the sports segment in UP, but also generate revenue for the state coffers.

“The state government is running a slew of schemes to promote sports talent in the rural and urban areas. It is among our priorities to cultivate a rich sports culture in UP,” Singh underlined.

He noted that tens of millions of sports lovers were connected with the online sports and in such a scenario, the proposed investment by Dream11 will encourage sportspersons and enable seamless integration of even the remotest areas on its platform.

Amid Twitter row, Yogi warns against fake news

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 17, 2021

 

In the backdrop of the Ghaziabad Police in Uttar Pradesh registering a case against US micro blogging major Twitter and others, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has issued stern warning against fake news.

 

Presiding over a high level meeting here yesterday, Yogi directed officials to take stern action against those indulging in spreading or circulating fake news or videos. “The state government will not tolerate any attempt to fan communal frenzy through fake news,” he underlined.

 

On Tuesday, the cops at the Loni Border Police Station in Ghaziabad had registered a first information report (FIR) against Twitter, Twitter India and seven others, including a news portal, over a viral video pertaining to an elderly man.

 

The video purportedly depicted Abdul Samad Saifi being assaulted and his beard forcibly cut by unidentified persons, who allegedly also asked him to chant religious slogans.

 

In the FIR, the cops also booked AltNews co-founder Mohd Zubair, Congress leaders Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami and Shama Mohamed, apart from journalists Saba Naqvi and Rana Ayyub and news portal The Wire for allegedly attempting to give a communal twist to the incident.

 

The FIR noted that follow up tweets were not merely opinions, but purposely circulated for nefarious designs, thus pointing towards criminal conspiracy. The accused have been charged with trying to spread hatred and hostility between the two communities.

 

Twitter has been charged with failing to take any steps to remove the so called objectionable tweets. The accused have been booked under Sections 34 (common intention), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion), 295-A (deliberate act to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.

 

Meanwhile, the Ghaziabad Police claimed Samad was assaulted by miscreants known to him. According to the cops, Samad had previously given an amulet for good fortune to those accused of roughing him up. They beat him up when the amulet failed to bring the promised results.

IIT Kanpur partners US firm Ansys for O2 concentrators

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 15, 2021

 

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has partnered and raised funding from the US based global leader in engineering simulation software, Ansys for manufacturing oxygen plants and concentrators.

 

The collaboration has been firmed up by the IIT Kanpur arm, Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC) under its Mission Bharat O2, which is aimed at making the country self-reliant in oxygen production and supply.

 

The cross-border partnership will operate on a decentralised model to generate indigenous manufacturing capabilities and a distribution network of health infrastructure. Through Mission Bharat O2, SIIC aims to create manufacturing pockets where Indian manufacturers will develop oxygen concentrators and plants on a rapid scale.

 

The association comes at a crucial juncture to promote indigenous manufacturing at par global standards. Mission Bharat O2 is a step towards the larger vision of SIIC to nurture a self-sustainable healthcare system in India, according to the Institute.

 

In the recent past, Ansys has collaborated with AIPL, an SIIC incubate, in design qualification of oxygen plants. Ansys provided critical design insights by leveraging its expertise in computational fluid dynamics and structural mechanics.

 

“IIT Kanpur aims to turn India into a manufacturing hub by supporting product innovation that originated from cutting-edge research and development. Our incubated companies have contributed immensely since the outbreak of Covid-19 in India. Now, we want to go a step further to build a nexus of local manufacturers who will put India on the map of the global manufacturing hubs. The support from Ansys is a vital contribution in that direction,” SIIC CEO Dr Nikhil Agarwal observed.

 

“Mission Bharat O2 under the aegis of SIIC is a crucial step towards the indigenisation of oxygen concentrators and plants that will go a long way in fighting Covid-19. Ansys is committed to the ‘Make in India’ initiative and for this to be successful, manufacturing is key. Simulation driven product development is the edge that will provide that much needed innovation, improved quality and decrease risks,” Ansys, area vice president (India and South Asia Pacific) said.

 

SIIC has selected eight manufacturing partners from 70+ participants who had competed to manufacture indigenous oxygen plants and concentrators under the Mission. With this, SIIC has taken a step forward to make the Indian healthcare manufacturing ecosystem self-sustaining by reducing dependence on imports.

IIT Kanpur nets US$ 4.25 million alumni donations

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 10, 2021

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has received alumni donations worth US$ 4.25 million for promoting education and research in different fields.

The dollar denominated donations have been made by two high profile alumni of the Institute viz. Muktesh Pant and Dev Joneja, who have contributed US$ 2.5 million and US$ 1.75 million respectively.

While, IIT Kanpur had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Micky and Vinita Pant Charitable Fund for establishing the School of Medical Research and Technology (SMRT) in March 2021, Joneja is now funding the setting up of Smt Pavitar Joneja Chair, in honour of his mother, in the Humanities and Social Science Department at the campus.

“The Smt Pavitar Joneja Chair is a platform for students to undertake intensive research and broaden their knowledge on subjects related to Humanities and Social Sciences. Over the years, Dr Dev Joneja has made significant contributions towards his alma mater,” IIT Kanpur director Prof Abhay Karandikar observed.

 Joneja serves as the Chief Risk Officer at Exodus Point Capital Management. He previously worked as the Global Head Risk and Analytics at Millennium Management LLC. Earlier, he was with Lehman Brothers for 13 years serving as the Head of European Fixed Income Research and as the Global Head of Lehman Indices and Point.

Besides, he has also served on the faculty at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, New York.

Joneja is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1984. He has already instituted the Arjun Dev Joneja Faculty Chair in honour of his father at the Department of Civil Engineering.

“The courses in Humanities and Social Sciences I took at IIT played a much bigger role in my career than I appreciated at the time, and I would like to support this part of every IIT student’s education,” he noted.

The other alumni, Pant has obtained his B Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1976. In a career spanning about 35 years, he held senior positions in top MNCs including Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo, Reebok and Yum Brands. Later, he went on to lead YUM! China as the CEO of the firm, when it was spun off as a listed entity.

SMRT will bring together the expertise of engineering technologies, biomedical research and clinical set-up under a single umbrella to create a one-of-its-kind world-class medical school in India. SMRT will produce outstanding medical professionals trained in state-of-art engineering technologies who can meet the future healthcare needs of our country.

“IIT Kanpur has always been renowned for leading the way in engineering education and this focus on bringing engineering excellence to medical technology has the potential to create many healthcare miracles in future,” Pant had said.

UP to hire MBAs to run government hospitals

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 8, 2021

 

Amid an early warning about a possible third wave of Covid-19, the Uttar Pradesh government is looking to hire Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree holders to run government hospitals.

 

This is aimed at relieving senior doctors of the administrative and managerial functions at the hospitals run by the state health as well as medical education departments.

 

In his unequivocal directive to the UP Covid-19 taskforce known as ‘Team 9’, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has underlined that doctors should only be posted for dispensing medical related tasks.

 

“The doctors who have been deputed for administration or managerial functions in the hospitals and offices of the health and medical education departments should be immediately relieved. For the purpose of hospital management, MBA degree holders youth should be given the opportunity,” he observed.

 

The Yogi government is targetting to vaccinate 10 million and 30 million beneficiaries in the months of June and July 2021 respectively. Since January 16, when the Covid-19 inoculation drive started pan India, UP has administered 20 million jabs.

UP government assures oxygen supply to industry

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 6, 2021

 

Allaying the concerns of entrepreneurs regarding oxygen supply for the continuous manufacturing industries, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath today directed officials to ensure adequate supply of the commodity to plants.

 

In line with the central and state government directives following a spurt in the demand of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) in April 2021 during the second wave of Covid-19, steel and ferrous industries, using oxygen for purifying liquid stainless steel, had surrendered oxygen for diversion of the critical commodity for medical use.

 

However, the demand for LMO, which had breached the level of 1,000 tonnes per day in UP a few weeks back at the peak of the second wave, has now come down by nearly 40 per cent.

 

Adityanath, while reviewing the oxygen situation here recently, noted there was adequate availability of the commodity in the districts and that the state would take all possible steps to ensure that sufficient supplies were made to the industrial units.

 

Earlier, the state had started the process of stringent oxygen audit to stem pilferage, which fetched encouraging results and translated into speedier distribution of the commodity in government hospitals across 75 districts according to the demand.

 

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had also urged the government to allocate O2 for the steel and ferrous units. This had come in the wake of the union home ministry & Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) allowing O2 supply to certain ferro alloy manufacturing units.

 

Besides, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) chamber Indian Industries Association (IIA) had demanded the Yogi government to allow for balanced allocation of oxygen for industrial and medical uses following easing of demand for LMO.

 

Meanwhile, the state is planning to facilitate the setting up of more than 400 oxygen manufacturing plants, apart from other industries related to the manufacture of oxygen cylinders, containers etc. These plants will come up in the private and public sector. Several companies are setting up O2 plants in the government hospitals as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity.

UP revenue collection zooms 42% in May 2021

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 4, 2021

 

Despite a stiff second wave of Covid-19 this year, the tax and non-tax revenue collection by the Uttar Pradesh government has zoomed by 42 per cent in May 20201 compared to the corresponding month in financial year 2020-21.

 

Against total collection of Rs 5,820 crore in May 2020, the UP government mopped up Rs 8,272 crore in May 2021, a growth of 42 per cent or Rs 2,452 crore, although the industrial and commercial activities remained shut during the month following Corona Curfew.

 

According to UP finance and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna here today, the state collected Rs 2,771 crore and Rs 2,286 crore under the goods and services tax (GST) and value added tax (VAT) heads respectively in May 2021 vis-à-vis Rs 1,939 crore and Rs 1,020 crore in May 2020.

 

Under the excise and stamp & registration heads, UP collected Rs 2,138 crore and Rs 625 crore in May 2021 compared to Rs 2,169 crore and Rs 349 crore respectively in May 2020.

 

Meanwhile, the state transport department logged collection of Rs 314 crore in May 2021 against Rs 99.86 crore in May 2020.

 

Under the non-tax heads of geology and mining, the state collected Rs 136 crore against Rs 242 crore in May 2020, thus showing a month-on-month (MoM) decline of nearly 43 per cent.

UP tops by testing 50 million Covid samples

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 2, 2021

Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in India to test 50 million samples of novel coronavirus also known as Covid-19.

Currently, the state is testing more than 300,000 samples a day under its aggressive ‘test, trace and treat’ strategy, which has helped the state to successfully flatten the curve of second wave.

Interestingly, UP has come a long way from getting the first Covid test conducted from the lab at National Institute of Virology, Pune in the first wave last year to achieve the feat of cumulatively testing 50 million samples.

According to the state government, testing is the backbone for curbing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as it aids early detection of cases, and their isolation and contact tracing.

Besides, a large number of surveillance committees constituted by the Yogi Adityanath government contributed immensely in curbing the spread of the disease in countryside.

More than 73,000 surveillance committees have so far scanned 98,000 villages across 75 districts and covered nearly every rural household, the government claimed.

Yogi orders for genome sequencing of Covid-19

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 1, 2021

Amid a waning second wave of Covid-19 but an early warning of possible third wave in the coming months, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered to engage Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) for advanced genome sequencing research on coronavirus.

The proposed study by Lucknow-based CDRI, a premier research organisation under the Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR), is aimed at unravelling the newer strains and mutations of Covid-19 and helping in making strategies to counter its impact.

Yogi said a detailed study on the Covid was imperative even as other organisations were also conducting research at different levels.

The UP government has adopted an aggressive ‘test, trace and treat’ strategy to control the spread of the pandemic, which has borne fruits for UP, which was once among the top two worst affected states apart from Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the 61 of 75 districts, wherein the number of active coronavirus cases are less than 600, today witnessed relaxation in Corona Curfew during the day time between 7 am and 7 pm outside the containment zones.

However, the weekend curfew on Saturday and Sunday, apart from the night curfew would remain in place across UP. Besides, the shopping malls, cinema halls, gyms, clubs, educational institutions etc would remain closed as well.

The 14 districts wherein the number of active cases is above 600 would continue to observe full Corona Curfew. These include Lucknow, Meerut, Saharanpur, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Jhansi etc.