The challenge is not to produce oxygen in the country, but to take it to the needy. The problem is that due to corona, there is a severe shortage of oxygen in western Indian states like Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. But most of the units of oxygen production are in states like Jharkhand, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. Despite the sufficient amount of oxygen available, it is difficult to reach the needy on time due to the greater distance.
A senior health ministry official said that despite the increased demand for oxygen, its production is still high. The 20 states with the highest transition have demanded 6785 MT per day as compared to the production of 7500 MT per day. Production is increasing continuously.
In a meeting with the Health Ministry, Maharashtra on Wednesday stated the requirement of 1500 metric tons of oxygen per day, but it was allocated 1661 metric tons. Similarly, in view of Gujarat’s demand of 1000 tonnes, an allocation of 975 tonnes was made. The senior official said that according to the demand of states, the quota of oxygen has been allocated.
But timely delivery of oxygen from Rourkela, Visakhapatnam, Jamshedpur, and Bokaro to states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab is not an easy task.
To reduce the time it takes to bring oxygen, a train like Oxygen Express has been started to send tankers. But this remedy also did not prove to be sufficient. With the release of oxygen deficiency ultimatum from many hospitals, the work of sending empty tankers by ship has also started. The problem is not the distance of oxygen availability. Due to a shortage of tankers and cylinders, it is proving difficult to transport oxygen from the nearby manufacturing units to the needy.
The government is buying one lakh new cylinders, but their supply will take time. Similarly, the government is going to order nitrogen tankers to be used for oxygen as well as import tankers from abroad and build new tankers. But it will also take time. Till then the government is trying to streamline the supply by maximizing the existing resources.
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