Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that disruption in oxygen supply to the steel industries will affect the employment of thousands in the state.
He requested the PM that like oxygen producing states supply industrial oxygen to other states for reasons of health, Remdesivir injection too must be made available to the non-producing states like Chhattisgarh.
Baghel made the request in a virtual meeting of Chief Ministers, chaired by Modi, to review the mechanism of Covid control and progress of vaccination.
Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo, Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu and Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain attended the meeting.
Baghel told the Prime Minister that the way oxygen producing states are providing their post-need additional oxygen to other states on priority, the producers of Redmisivir and other life-saving medicines should supply them to the other states.
In view of the abundance of steel industries in Chhattisgarh, Baghel urged Modi to provide permission to produce and use industrial oxygen in the state.
This, he said, will not only save the economy from getting adversely affected economically but protect thousands of families from an employment crisis.
The Chief Minister said nearly 18 percent of the state’s population has been given the first dose of the vaccine. To prevent entry of Covid infected from other states, tests are being conducted at inter-state borders, airports, bus stands and railway stations.
He gave an account of facilities at hospitals and Covid care centers as well as the recruitment of retired doctors and other medical staff.