Home ministry permits use of industrial oxygen on a temporary basis
Premium- Home Ministry said DPIIT may allow usage of liquid oxygen on a temporary basis for continuous process industries/plants
With the demand for medical oxygen reducing as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic ebbs, the home ministry has temporarily permitted use of liquid oxygen for certain industries after a request from the industry department. Industrial use of liquid oxygen was banned in April after a sudden surge in coronavirus patients requiring liquid oxygen support.
Quoting a letter sent by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs said DPIIT may allow usage of liquid oxygen on a temporary basis for continuous process industries/plants such as furnaces, refineries, steel, aluminum, copper processing plants which require continuous power supply; infrastructure projects and plants; micro, small and medium enterprises; exporters of manufacturing sector requiring oxygen for production; and food processing units.
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However, DPIIT has to ensure adequate supply of liquid medical oxygen to hospitals and other medical purposes as per demands of states and union territories as well as adequate supply to industries/sectors such as ampoules and vials, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing of oxygen cylinders and PSA plants, neutral glass tubing and defence forces.
The decision to ban industrial use of oxygen in April was taken considering the recommendation of inter-ministerial Empowered Group (EG-II) mandated by government to manage requisite supplies of medical equipment, drugs including medical oxygen across the country in the wake of resurgence of covid-19 cases.
India daily new cases declined to 1.27 lakh, lowest in 54 days with daily recoveries (2.5 lakh) continuing to outnumber daily new cases for 19 successive days. India's active caseload further declines below 20 lakhs for the first time after 43 days.
However, Indian Railways continues delivering liquid medical oxygen to various states across the country from oxygen surplus states such as Odisha, West Bengal and Gujarat. So far, Indian Railways has delivered more than 22916 MT of medical oxygen in more than 1357 tankers to various states across the country with 334 Oxygen Expresses completing their journey.
“Till date, 614 MT of oxygen has been offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 3797 MT in Uttar Pradesh, 656 MT in Madhya Pradesh, 5557 MT in Delhi, 2089 MT in Haryana, 98 MT in Rajasthan, 2440 MT in Karnataka, 320 MT in Uttarakhand, 2190 MT in Tamil Nadu, 2125 MT in Andhra Pradesh, 225 MT in Punjab, 380 MT in Kerala, 2062 MT in Telangana, 38 MT in Jharkhand and 320 MT in Assam," Ministry of Railways said on Tuesday.
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