Centre allows three sectors to use liquid oxygen, revises its order of total ban

The MHA communications to all Chief Secretaries of the States and Union Territories (UTs), the Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, in the capacity of being the chairman of the Executive Committee under National Disaster management Act (NDMA), said, exceptions in cases of “Ampules vials, Pharmaceutical and Defence forces” could be allowed for the use of “liquid oxygen” other than the medical purposes.

In the letter, Bhalla directed the top officials of the states and UTs to accordingly communicate to the district authorities in this regard.

On Sunday, while communicating to the authorities in the states and the UTs Bhalla had said, there would be a complete ban on the use of “liquid oxygen” for industrial purposes and there would be “no exception” with respect to any industry.

In its earlier order, the MHA had said, “All the authorities need to ensure that use of liquid oxygen is not allowed for any non-medical purpose and that all manufacturing units may maximise their production of liquid oxygen, and make it available to the government for use for medical purposes only, with immediate effect and until further orders.”

Meanwhile, the MHA also informed that two more containers for transportation of oxygen have been brought from Dubai, to meet the increasing demand for medical oxygen in the country.

Earlier, four cryogenic tanks for transportation of oxygen were brought from Singapore on Saturday.

Since Friday, the MHA has been coordinating efforts to deploy empty oxygen tankers and containers in various filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of the much-needed medical oxygen in treating COVID-19 patients.