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.”