NEW DELHI: Responding to what it has termed “an extremely urgent requirement” to augment supply of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), the Centre has directed states that there be no power cuts at the plants manufacturing oxygen and that district/local administrations be told that there be zero interference so as to ensure smooth functioning of the plants.
Also, to ensure uninterrupted movement of LMO the Centre wants to convert “most” tankers presently carrying nitrogen and argon into oxygen-carrying tankers. As per the centre there are 1,199 — 434 argon and 765 nitrogen — tankers in the country and 516 LMO tankers spread across 11 major states.
The 516 LMO tankers have a capacity to transport around 7,300MT, which is insufficient to tackle the problem at hand. Thus, urging for conversion of other tankers, a letter from union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba has identified 516 (214 argon and 353 nitrogen) non-oxygen carriers that can transport 7,500 metric tonne (MT) to augment the transport capacity of LMO. TOI has a copy of the letter.