After battling the paucity of oxygen in the second wave of Covid wave initially, the supply of the life-saving fluid in Uttar Pradesh has been increased and a record 994.83 metric tonnes of oxygen has been supplied across the state in the past 24 hours. Besides, 78.46 MT of oxygen was supplied through air separators units under self- production.
Detailing the supply of oxygen in the state, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Avnish Kumar Awasthi said in Lucknow on Saturday that 586.58 MT of oxygen was supplied to the refillers by Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration. Also, as a result of the efforts of the government, 318.36 MT of oxygen was supplied to medical colleges and institutions across the state and 89.89 MT of oxygen was sent directly to private hospitals by the suppliers.
“In this way, more than 994.83 metric tons of oxygen was supplied in the last 24 hours in the government and private hospitals across the state,” he said.
Awasthi said that 10 tankers from Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) with a total of 80 metric ton of liquid oxygen reached Lucknow at 11 am on May 8 by Jeevan Rakshak train. Similarly, six tankers of about 48 MT capacity were made available for Kanpur.
“Adequate oxygen arrangements have also been ensured for DRDO Lucknow hospital. Besides, adequate arrangements of oxygen have been made for DRDO Varanasi Hospital. For Kanpur, arrangements have been made to deliver 80 metric tons of oxygen through a special train on Sunday. For Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut, arrangements were made to provide oxygen by filling 80 MT tankers from Jamnagar Gujarat by Saturday night or by Sunday morning,” the top official informed.
On the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, online monitoring of oxygen supply was being done through a special control room set up in Home department to fulfill the demand of oxygen in the state. The control room is being manned by senior officials and employees of Home, Food and Drug Administration, Medical Education, Health and Family Welfare and Transport departments 24/7 in coordination.