After virtually inaugurating the biggest oxygen production plant in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the plant was a testimony to the government’s commitment to bringing industries in the state and the plant would ease the oxygen crisis in the health sector in UP.
“The state’s struggle for oxygen will now be a thing of the past. After the installation of HFNC (high-flow nasal cannula), the demand for oxygen has shot up in Covid hospitals in UP. The new facility will bridge the gap between demand and supply. It is heartening that such a facility is ready during the trying times of pandemic, when it is needed the most,” the chief minister said in Lucknow on Thursday.
Yogi expressed happiness that the company would now set up another plant in the central parts of the state and more such plants would come up to eliminate oxygen shortage.
Asking officials to encourage such investments in the state, the chief minister said that UP had the pride of becoming second in the country in Ease of Doing Business.
He said that investors should be approached to come to set up their industries in UP as it would create more employment and contribute to the state’s development.
“The state government is doing everything to provide the best treatment to COVID-19 patients and others. UP has become the top state in testing Covid samples with over 1.12 crore tests while the state has the number of Covid beds in the country,” he said.
Yogi said that his government was doing everything to attract investors and provide them assistance to set up manufacturing units and to do business in the state.
The new plant would manufacture high quality liquefied oxygen to be used for patients. The plant was commissioned by INOX Air Products (INOXAP), one of India’s largest manufacturers of industrial and medical gases.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up the oxygen unit was signed during Investors Summit in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. The project has come up with an investment of Rs 150 crore.
With a potential to produce 150 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen per day, the plant takes UP’s current liquid oxygen manufacturing capacity from 115 MT to 265 MT per day. It would fulfil the oxygen demand of more than 200 hospitals and medical colleges across the state and also cater to gases for various industries.
Talking about the new plant, INOX Group Director Siddharth Jain said that the project was possible only due to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
‘’Today, as we cross a massive milestone in our journey, we feel inspired by the CM’s vision of a robust healthcare infrastructure as well as comprehensive economic growth in Uttar Pradesh. We feel proud to be a part of this growth story. INOX AP is keen to make a second round of investment of Rs 150 crore to set up another ultra high purity cryogenic liquid oxygen plant in central UP,” Jain said.