Lucknow, May 04: In order to meet the increased demand of O2 in the state, oxygen supply has been escalated by taking massive action. A record 783.31 metric tonnes of oxygen has been supplied throughout the state in the last 24 hours.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given instructions to set up 300 new oxygen plants for a permanent solution to the problem. Oxygen producing units are being encouraged towards the state government and a policy has been formulated for this.
Giving a detailed account of the supply of oxygen throughout the state in the last twenty-four hours, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said that 350.12 metric tonnes of oxygen has been supplied to the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department to the refillers. Also, as a result of the efforts of the government, 309 metric tonnes of oxygen has been supplied to medical colleges and medical institutions of the state and 124.19 metric tonnes of oxygen has been supplied directly to private hospitals by oxygen suppliers. In this way, more than 783 metric tons of oxygen has been supplied in the last 24 hours in government and private hospitals across the state.
Awasthi informed that allocation of 10 metric tons of oxygen per day has been set up for the Kovid Hospital set up by DRDO for Covid treatment in the state capital Lucknow.
He said that now only oxygen required for the test work has been provided and as soon as this Covid Hospital starts work, the supply of 10 metric tonnes of it will be ensured in time.
He said that district-wise available oxygen production plants and their capacity are constantly being reviewed. District-wise details of demand of oxygen have also been prepared by the government. In view of the oxygen quota allocated to the state by the Government of India, efforts are on to raise its maximum.
Every effort is being made to bring maximum oxygen as per the availability of cryogenic tanker in Uttar Pradesh, for which the help of Oxygen Express run by the Railways has been taken. Details of district wise number, capacity etc. of refilling units have also been prepared in the state. The aerial route has been resorted to to save time for evacuating tankers to reach oxygen refilling plants.
It is noteworthy that on the instructions of the Chief Minister, online monitoring of oxygen supply system is being done through a special control room set up in the Home Department with a view to promptly meet the demand of oxygen in the state.
In this control room, senior officials and employees of Home Department, Food and Drug Administration, Medical Education, Health and Family Welfare and Transport Department are working continuously for 24 hours in coordination.
First state
Uttar Pradesh is also the first state to bring oxygen by railway route. In order to meet the shortage of oxygen in Uttar Pradesh, arrangements have been made to bring oxygen from the oxygen plant located in other states like Bihar, Orissa, Bengal, Jharkhand to the state, which is also being monitored online.
Arrangements have also been made to make tankers coming through other states from the border of UP by making them green corridors and reach them to the designated place soon. Oxygen audits have been arranged for rational, rational use of oxygen so that it can be saved and utilized properly. For this, the software has been developed by IIT Kanpur.
In this work, IIM Lucknow, IIT Kanpur and IIT BHU Varanasi AKTU, Lucknow, MMT 0 Gorakhpur, HBTU Kanpur, NNIT, Prayagraj and SGPGI have participated in the audit work of oxygen across the state.
