Bhutan has agreed to supply 40 MT of oxygen to the Assam government, which is trying to augment its emergency supplies in view of a surge in Covid-19 cases.
A statement issued by the Embassy of India at Thimphu said on Tuesday that the liquid oxygen would be supplied from a new plant being set up at the Motanga Industrial Estate in Samdrup Jongkhar district by M/S S.D. Cryogenics Gases Pvt. Ltd., a Bhutanese company. "Every day 40 metric tons of liquid oxygen produced in the plant will be exported to Assam using cryogenic tankers," it said.
The oxygen plant has domestic investment of 51% by M/S D.S. Cryogenics Gases Pvt. Ltd. and FDI component of 49% by Meghalaya Oxygen Pvt. Ltd, an Assam based Indian company.
"The provision of oxygen by Bhutan will augment India's efforts to win the fight against Covid-19 and save precious lives. This is a practical manifestation of the uniquely close and friendly ties between India and Bhutan," said the statement.
Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday told reporters in Guwahati that Bhutan agreed to resume work in the plant after Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar talked to Bhutanese authorities.
"Work on the plant was on hold due to Covid-19. But Bhutan king agreed to allow workers to resume work and make it operational as early as possible. It is likely to take about a month to make the plant operational," Sarma said.
Assam health department on Tuesday signed three MOUs with three companies at Bongaigaon, Silapathar (in Assam) and Dimapur (in Nagaland), which would ramp up the state's capacity by another 10.5 MT per day.
"With this our daily oxygen production capacity will reach 66 MT/day. The manufacturers will supply at rates fixed by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority," Sarma said.
Assam's oxygen requirement on Monday stood at 20 MT per day.
The minister on Monday assured that the state would not face a shortage of oxygen supply for at least 15 days and efforts are on to make sure that oxygen supplies are sufficient in the future too.
The total number of active Covid-19 positive cases in Assam increased to 19, 923 with 3,132 new cases reported on Tuesday. The state conducted 62,628 tests, of which 5% tested positive.
The state reported 18 deaths on Tuesday of which five were in the Kamrup Metro district (Guwahati).
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