Covid-19 second wave: Steel firms get state-wise quota for supply of oxygen

As it scrambles to ensure the supply of oxygen to Covid-19 patients, the central government has enlisted the help of steel firms, which have been given state-wise quotas to ensure adequate supply.
 
The Union government’s Empow­ered Group 2 (EG2), which reviews the production, consumption, and stocks available at all the steel plants in the country, has allocated distribution of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) from each steel plant to various states. Each firm, including the oxygen making units that are in the business already, have been allocated state-wise quotas for supply.
 
The Indian steel industry has the capacity to supply about 3,000 tonnes a day of medical oxygen. Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), and Jindal Stainless are among those that have already started supplying medical oxygen to states. Besides, Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper has sought Supreme Court’s permission to reopen its Tuti­corin plant to produce oxygen. The Tata group has said it will import 24 cryogenic containers through a group company to transport liquid oxygen to meet the logistic requirement.

 

SAIL has already supplied 36,747 tonnes of LMO since August 2020. With the increase in demand across the country, both SAIL and Tata Steel have enhanced their capacities.
 
In the last six days, SAIL supplied 660 tonne per day from its plants on an average. The company supplied 891 tonne on Wednesday alone. “SAIL has reduced the production of gaseous Oxygen, Nitrogen and Argon besides optimising process parameters in its plants to boost production of LMO,” the company said.
 
A Tata Steel spokesperson said the company is currently supplying 300-400 tonne of LMO daily to the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, And­hra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkh­and, Odisha, Bihar, and West Bengal and hospitals through its manufacturing units in Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar, and Dhenkanal. “We stand ready to increase the supply though currently there is a shortage of containers and trailers to carry and transport the oxygen. We hope that the transportation issue is sorted out expeditiously and the requi­red quantity of LMO reaches the desired destinations. We are working on the alternative sourcing as well,” he said.

 
Sterlite Copper has one of the largest oxygen facilities in the country at Tuticorin. It said it has reached out to the Tamil Nadu government and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan seeking approval to operate its 1,000-tonne per day oxygen plant to meet the rising demand. The company has also filed a petition outlining its offer to help in the Supreme Court since the Tuticorin plant has been shut over environmental concerns. Another Vedanta group company, Hindustan Zinc, has supplied 1,500 litres oxygen to the Udaipur health administration. The company transported a 1,000-litre liquid oxygen tanker from its industrial oxygen plant at Rajpura Dariba Complex. HZL is supplying industrial oxygen, which will undergo a clinical procedure to be used for medical treatment.

 
ESL, the Vedanta group’s steel maker, has registered its plant near Bokaro for LMO. It has committed to supply up to 10 tonnes of oxygen daily, based on the steel ministry's requirement. Jindal Stainless, which produces LMO at its Hisar facility in Haryana for industrial purposes, has been supplying eight tonne a day to nearby medical facilities. This includes Jindal Institute of Medical Sciences in Hisar, Maharaja Agrasen Medical College in Agroha, Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences in Mullana, and the rest is being supplied to cylinder re-fillers. Noting an acute shortage of oxygen in the Delhi-NCR region, Jindal Stainless recently began supplies to Medanta, Gurugram, and Moolchand hospital in Delhi, the company said.