Team News Riveting
Raipur, April 20
The Chhattisgarh government had banned the supply of Oxygen for industrial purposes by manufacturers and suppliers to meet the growing demand from the hospitals to combat COVID-19.
Chhattisgarh has been facing an unprecedented surge in the new daily cases of COVID. The requirement for Medical Oxygen is a critical component in the treatment of COVID affected patients. In view of the recent surge in the country of COVID19 cases, the requirement of oxygen for effective clinical treatment of COVID patients has also witnessed a manifold hike.
Anurag Pandey, Joint Secretary in the department of Commerce and Industry, today issued an order prohibiting the supply of oxygen for industrial purposes by manufacturers and suppliers with effect from Thursday. The Union Health Ministry had advised all Chief Secretaries to ensure effective implementation and compliance of the order. The Union Government had also issued similar prohibition.
After due deliberations, it was considered prudent to restrict the industrial usage of oxygen to meet the rising demand for medical oxygen. The surplus oxygen available up as a result of this temporary restriction will facilitate its freeing up for use as medical oxygen for treatment of COVID19 patients.
This prohibition, however, shall not apply to the supply of oxygen for the following nine industries that included ampoules and vials, pharmaceutical, petroleum refineries, steel plants, nuclear energy facilities, oxygen cylinder manufacturers, wastewater treatment plants, food and water purification and process industries which require uninterrupted operation of furnaces, processes, etc. as approved by respective State governments.
The industrial units, other than those listed above, which would not be in a position to obtain oxygen, are advised to consider alternate measures such as import of Oxygen or setting up their own Air Separator Units (ASU) for generation of Oxygen for their captive requirements.
