Reeling under acute shortage of medical oxygen, Delhi will get supply from Himachal Pradesh for Covid emergencies.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, on the request of his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, has agreed to arrange emergency supplies of oxygen from Himachal Pradesh to New Delhi.
“Since the National Capital Region is facing an acute shortage of oxygen due to the Covid-19 crisis, Himachal Pradesh will provide immediate help. We are producing sufficient liquid oxygen, upto 115 tonnes to supply to the states in dire need,” said Thakur here.
In a letter to his counterpart, Thakur said Himachal Pradesh was highly concerned about the situation emerging in New Delhi and would be more than happy to extend all possible help to the Delhi government.
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He said the Delhi government officials can get in touch with the additional director of industries to arrange the supply of oxygen from the state.
A day before additional chief secretary (industries) Ramsubhag Singh had held a meeting with all industrialists producing oxygen in the state and asked them to ramp up production as the country was passing through a huge crisis.
The industrial units at Baddi-Brotiwala –Nalagarh and Paonta Sahib have been supplying oxygen to Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh.
There are nine industrial units dealing with the oxygen production in the state of these, three are at Mandi. Kangra and Simaur were already meeting the requirements of the hospitals and Covid care centres.
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The state’s premier Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital (IGMC), which is running a 100-plus Covid care ward ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, has in-house oxygen plant set-up on BOT basis by Mandi-based industrialist M/S Manav Air Industries since 2017.
M/S Inox Air Products at Baddi, M/s Aar Kay Air Products (Indora) Kangra ,M/s Mahalaxmi Oxy Plant at Padhar (Mandi ) and M/s Bala Sundri Gases (pvt) Ltd at Kala Amb in Sirmaur district are other players.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said three new oxygen plants at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Shimla, Medical College Ner Chowk (Mandi) and Government Medical College, Nahan, will be commissioned in next few days as teams from Maharashtra have reached to finalise the commissioning plants.
At Dharamshala, the chief minister reviewed the Covid-19 situation in Kangra district. He said efforts were on to acquire Radhaswami Complex, Parour in Kangra district to operationalise a 1,000-bed makeshift hospital for Covid cases. Kangra has been the worst affected by the second wave coronavirus infection in the state.
He, however, said the state has adequate PPE kits, face masks, sanitization and essential medicines and oxygen for all emergencies. He said another 50-bed City Centre Multispecialty Hospital at Gaggal would be made functional from tomorrow for Covid-19 patients.
