PM asks oxygen manufacturers to utilise production potential to meet demand

Faced with the rising demand for oxygen from hospitals across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked oxygen manufacturers to utilise the full potential of the industry to meet the demand for oxygen in the coming days.

Chairing a meeting with leading oxygen manufacturers across the country via video conferencing, Modi said this is time not only to deal with the challenges but also to provide solutions in a very short time and stressed the need to maintain good coordination between the government and the oxygen producers.

He said that there is a need to increase the availability of oxygen cylinders as well as upgrade the logistic facilities for the transportation of oxygen. He urged the industry to utilize tankers meant to transport other gases for oxygen supply.

He also thanked the industry for diverting industrial oxygen to meet medical requirements in the country and appreciated the oxygen producers for increasing their production in the last few weeks.

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The meeting was attended by RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani, SAIL Chairperson Soma Mandal, Sajjan Jindal of JSW, Narendran of Tata Steel, Naveen Jindal of JSPL, Dilip Oommen of AMNS, M Bannerjee of LINDE, Sidharth Jain of Inox, Noriyo Shibuya, MD of Air Water Jamshedpur, Rajesh Kumar Saraf of National Oxygen Ltd and Saket Tiku, President of All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers Association.

The Home Ministry has written to States/ UTs, to direct District Collectors/ Deputy Commissioners to list all the plants situated in their district, in which different types of oxygen are generated, along with the installed capacity. They should also take action to revive those plants which are lying closed. These efforts will ensure ready availability of oxygen at the district level, besides the supply of medical oxygen from usual channels. Home Minister Amit Shah also separately reviewed the situation and directed measures to augment the supply of oxygen for medical purposes.