₹1,100-cr Mission Oxygen to add 1K MT in 6 mnths in Maha
To prepare for the third wave and take the state to self-sustainability in terms of oxygen supply for medical purposes, the Maharashtra government has planned a ₹1,100-crore Mission Oxygen. It is expected to get a cabinet nod this week.
Under the plan, the state has set a target of taking the daily generation of oxygen to 2,300 metric tonnes (MT) in the next six months, and to extend it to 3,000 MT in two years. It is also considering an option to invest in oxygen plants, instead of depending entirely on private sector.
The state’s current requirement of oxygen is 1,600 MT daily. Maharashtra has a local production of 1,295 MT a day, and gets around 400-500 MT by way of allocation from the Central government from other states. Although the state has been able to fulfil its current demand for Covid-19 patients, it has chalked out a plan in anticipation of the third wave. Its Mission Oxygen will have short- and long-term plans, with the first phase of addition of 500 MT to be achieved in next three months and additional another 500 MT in six months as its short-term goal. Currently, a majority of plants are owned by private sector, but now the state wants to invest in plants to build its capacity at the earliest.
“38 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants have already started gen11,000 erating 53 MT a day, while work orders to set up 240 such plants with a generation capacity of 240 MT a day have already been issued. The daily oxygen generation capacity of these plants vary from 0.5 to 5 MT and cost ₹20 lakh and above. Similarly, we are planning air separation units (ASUS), which take some time for installation across the state. Besides it, we are planning to utilise the existing capacity of 600 MT of generation plants in gaseous form, by providing compression and bottling facilities to them. This would help take the generation to 2,300 MT in six months,” said an official from Mantralaya. The official, who does not wish to be quoted as the proposal is yet to be formally approved by the cabinet, said that some of the liquid medical oxygen plants are expected to be installed by private players. He said the programme also includes capacity building by private sector to add to their current generation of oxygen.
The official said the state government is also augmenting its storage capacity to more than 10,000 MT by installing tanks at district and divisional levels. “Currently, we have been consuming the stock we get on daily basis, without having any buffer stock. It is not an ideal situation during the time of a pandemic. We waste hours filing the oxygen from steel plants in other states and then its transportation. By creating storage capacity of over MT, we will be in position to stock the oxygen to last for at least for seven days,” the official said. The state cabinet is expected to give its formal nod to the ₹1,100-crore programme in its meeting this week. By implementing the programme, the state government wants to end its dependence on Central government for additional oxygen for Covid patients. “Though the Centre has been allocating 400500 MT in addition to our domestic consumption of 1,295 MT, the Central government may ask Maharashtra to supply oxygen to other states from domestic consumption. We have been asked to supply 11 MT from generation in Kolhapur to Goa, when we have been facing shortage locally. Besides its allocation of 60 MT from Bellary in Karnataka was blocked leading to shortfall in the supply. By ramping up our own capacity through Mission Oxygen, we want be self-reliant in the next six months,” said another official.
Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s premier container port, successfully executed the handling of four containers carrying 80 MT medical oxygen in cryogenic state in the vessel MV. GSF GISELLE of AXS service. The medical oxygen containers were sent by United Arab Emirates.mv. GSF GISELLE, carrying the containers reached JNPT on Monday, after departing from Jebel Ali, on the southern outskirts of Dubai on May 5.
Inputs from G Mohiuddin Jeddy