Assam
Assam Industry Minister interacts with oxygen manufacturing units
Guwahati: In view of the rise in COVID-19 cases and demand for medical oxygen, Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary interacted with the oxygen manufacturing units of Assam and took stock of the present status of the manufacturing capacity of the units through a VC today.
Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department, Dr KK Dwivedi initiated the discussion.
At present, there are six oxygen manufacturing units in Assam with an installed production capacity of 61 MT daily along with ample storage capacity. There is no shortage of oxygen and Assam Government, as on today, is in a comfortable position with the current daily requirement of oxygen.
In addition, Government of Assam has installed 10 oxygen separators in the medical colleges and hospitals and 10 additional have been proposed which will be functional in a month’s time. Following this, Assam will be self-sufficient in case of oxygen requirement in the health sector as per today’s scenario.
However, Minister Patowary called upon the manufacturers to ramp up the oxygen production and enhance the capacity to be future-ready for any emergency situation. The Minister told that in view of the current humanitarian crisis, profit should not be the motive for the oxygen manufacturers and asked them to render services to the people.
He assured full government support and the manufacturers agreed to extend all possible cooperation.
Minister Patowary stated that the entire oxygen production will go to the medical hospitals and medical establishments and supply of oxygen will be discontinued to other industries.
Abhijit Barooah, Managing Director, Premier Cryogenics Limited, gave an overview of the oxygen manufacturing scenario and raised the issue of power supply and power subsidy.
The Industry Minister directed the General Managers of DICCs to coordinate with the manufacturers and to promptly address if any issue arises. He further directed the Industry Department to prepare a roadmap in collaboration with the oxygen manufacturers to manage any crisis situation.
To the queries of the units for uninterrupted power supply, Minister Patowary asked Managing Director, APDCL to ensure smooth power supply and avoid fluctuation for continuous production of oxygen.
Commissioner of Transport, Adil Khan assured the industrialists for smooth transportation of the oxygen supply.
Dr. Anup Kumar Barman, Director of Medical Education; Rakesh Agarwal, Managing Director, APDCL; Abhijit Barooah, Managing Director, Premier Cryogenics Limited and representatives of various oxygen manufacturing units were present in the meeting.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
