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.