District-level vegetation push Chhattisgarh oxygen-surplus story

Chhattisgarh has emerged as a lifeline for a lot of in states resembling Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat, rolling out tankers containing the a lot wanted medical oxygen, which it has been producing in surplus over the previous few months.
This aside, the state has additionally been responding to emergencies. On Sunday, it despatched out a tanker carrying 16 MT liquid oxygen to a hospital in Lucknow. “After receiving information on phone from Priyanka Gandhi, a tanker of oxygen supply to Medanta Hospital in Lucknow has been immediately arranged for the treatment of Covid-19 patients,” tweeted Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
According to Chief Minister Baghel, Chhattisgarh has no oxygen scarcity. “We’ve been managing our resources well,” he stated.
It will not be that Chhattisgarh doesn’t have wants. Its liquid oxygen consumption grew from 3 MT per day in March 2021 to 170 MT per day by April 20 this 12 months. “We have to ensure that we have enough to utilise for the day and then store some, in case our demands grow. That balance is to be maintained for our smooth functioning,” a authorities official engaged on oxygen administration advised The Indian Express.
Currently, the state is producing 388 MT oxygen per day towards its want of 170 MT.
Although the Bhilai Steel Plant, which produced greater than 13,000 MT liquid oxygen from August 2020 to March 2021, stays the most important provider, establishing of smaller vegetation within the districts since November final 12 months has turned out to be the game-changer in the course of the second surge.
“In September 2020, we planned on setting up oxygen-generating plants as there were several issues with transportation, price control and other logistics. When work started in November, the Union government also pitched in, albeit with smaller capacity plants,” stated Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo.
Since November final 12 months, 16 vegetation have been arrange in 13 districts by the state authorities, and one plant has been arrange by the Union authorities. Work is in progress on seven extra vegetation – 4 funded by the state and three by the Centre. Located both on the district hospital or the medical faculty, the 16 oxygen vegetation produce between 88 and 305 jumbo cylinders of oxygen a day.

According to state officers, one of many largest good thing about the localised oxygen vegetation is that the effort of transporting and storing liquid oxygen from Bhilai could possibly be curbed, particularly in districts resembling Korba or Bilaspur.