Chandigarh, April 29: Leaving no stone unturned to augmentOxygen supply, the Punjab Government today directed officials of the Industriesand Commerce Department to identify the closed oxygen generated units and othermedical supply units.
Divulging the details of this decision, Punjab Industries,and Commerce Minister Sunder Sham Arora said that the State Government led byChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is firing on all cylinders to ensureuninterrupted medical supplies especially medical oxygen and vaccines.
“I have already instructed the authorities to identify theindustries that have the capacity to produce medical oxygen but don’t have thelicense to produce. The government will act swiftly and issue the license assoon as possible. The supply of oxygen to industries was stopped and now 98%oxygen is going towards the medical requirements,” the minister added.
He stressed on the need to make available adequate oxygenbecause of a high number of oxygen-dependent COVID-19 cases and urged theCentre to ensure adequate supply from other states as we diagnose the patientsof other states including Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. The Cabinet Ministerasserted that the industries department and various industry associations arealso exploring ways to increase oxygen production.
Industries and Commerce Minister Sunder Shyam Arora insistedthat the Department will help to identify land and getting consent to establishthe plant if anyone wants to set up the plant. He also appealed to industry tocome to the fore to save mankind under the Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) scheme. He also urged the state-run oil firms to establish Pressure SwingAdsorption (PSA) medical oxygen generation plants and procure cryogeniccontainers for transporting liquid medical oxygen to meet the acute oxygenshortage in the country.
The Cabinet Minister also disclosed that the state authoritiesincluding police have also been directed to ensure free movement of vehiclescarrying oxygen amid reports of some states diverting the vehicles for localuse even as hospitals sent out frantic appeals for emergency supplies.
Pertinently mention that the state has 15 Air SeparationUnits (ASUs) with a generation capacity of 60 to 65 tonnes per day and theaverage requirement before COVID was 50-60 tonnes per day, which has fetched upto 250 MT per day after the rapid spike in COVID cases and panic buying.