New Delhi: The Centre on Sunday asked the governments of various states and Union Territories to ensure the 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 of medical purposes only with immediate effect until further orders.
“Further, all stocks of liquid oxygen, should be made available to the Government for use for medical purposes. No exemption is allowed to any industry with regard to use of liquid oxygen,” the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in its order.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">State/UT Govts to ensure that use of liquid oxygen is not allowed for any non-medical purpose & that all manufacturing units may maximise their production of liquid oxygen & make it available to govt for use of medical purposes only with immediate effect until further orders: MHA <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/oxygen-crisis-in-delhi-cm-arvind-kejriwal-letter-to-top-industrialists-ambani-tata-corona-cases-national-capital-1454666">pic.twitter.com/h70hworuZo</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a >April 25, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The MHA issued an order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, earlier on Thursday directing the states and UTs to take various measures to ensure an uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen across the country.
In tune with the same, the MHA had written to all states and UTs to ensure compliance with this order and to provide adequate security to oxygen-transporting vehicles and make provisions for exclusive corridors for such transportation while treating these vehicles like ambulances.
Amid the spike in Covid-19 cases, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has directed various measures to augment the supply of oxygen for medical purposes.
Accordingly, an Expert Group is optimizing and rationalising the allocation of oxygen to various states and UTs while keeping in view the active cases and reducing time for movement of medical oxygen.