The second wave: Govt eases procurement norms for key Covid-19 supplies

Union commerce and industry ministry on Monday said it has relaxed general financial rules and removed all restrictive provisions to enable procurement of critical Covid-19 related supplies.

Besides, bank guarantees have been waived off for all procurement.

"100% payment of advance has been approved for critical Covid-19 procurement. Procurement on nomination basis has been permitted in case of constrained supply market," an official statement said.

Amid a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases and shortage of key medical and pharmaceutical supplies, the government has been taking steps to improve oxygen production, enhancing tanker availability to optimize logistics, improving oxygen storage at the last mile, and easing norms of procurement. Some states, including Delhi, have been urging the Centre for higher allocation of oxygen over the last few weeks.

The government also said that the oxygen allocation process has continuously evolved to streamline the distribution of oxygen in the country. 

"There is a mismatch between producing and consuming states, and equity among states has to be maintained. Moreover, one-third of the production is concentrated in East India, while the 60% of demand for oxygen is in North and South India, resulting in transportation challenges. Mapping of source and destination of oxygen has been completed to optimize transportation plan in consultation with States/UTs, manufacturers & other stakeholders," the statement said.

According to official data, oxygen production per day has increased in the last nine months by nearly two-third to 9,466 MT in May 2021. The production capacity has increased from 6817 MT per day to 7,314 MT per day, and capacity utilization has gone up from 84% to 129% during this period.