In a bid to counter the third wave of Covid, the Maharashtra Government is implementing Mission Oxygen, which will aim at achieving self-sufficiency in oxygen production by targeting a production of 3,000 metric tonnes, State Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray, said on Friday.
Industries in the State produce 1,200 tonnes of oxygen, against the current requirement of approximately 1,700 tonnes, he said. Under Mission Oxygen, the sugar industry should take the initiative in the field of oxygen production, he said.
In the wake of the Covid pandemic, several industries, including steel, sugar, dairy and power plants, have been producing oxygen in the state by modifying and retrofitting some of their industrial process units.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the inauguration of an oxygen generation plant at Dharashiv sugar factory in Osmanabad district through video-conferencing. The factory produces six tonnes of oxygen every day with a purity of 96 per cent.
In the first wave, the State Government set up many testing labs, Covid care centres and increased bed capacity. The challenge of the second wave is huge. But Maharashtra can overcome this wave by being self-sufficient in oxygen production, he said.
Various municipalities in the state are also making efforts to generate oxygen. The co-operative sector also needs to take the lead in this.
At the Dharashiv sugar factory, modifications to the ethanol plant were made for producing oxygen. Other industries and co-operative sugar mills should be inspired by this venture, Thackeray said.