Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte has on Tuesday written a letter to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, and has requested to increase the state's quota of medical oxygen by at least 200 MT. He has also requested the Centre to allocate 10 LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen) tankers to enable the state to lift the allocated LMO quota from Steel Plant at Angul via Roll On Roll Off (RoRo) Oxygen Express.
"Maharashtra continues to face onslaught of second wave of COVID pandemic with current active caseload of 6,63,758, of which 78,884 cases admitted are on medical oxygen including 24,787 in ICU. Moreover, 16 districts viz Palghar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nandurbar, Beed, Parbhani, Hingoli, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur are showing continuous growth in COVID active cases and oxygen requirement," Kunte said.
"However, considering this situation of rising medical oxygen demand, I request that the present allocation of the State be enhanced by at least 200 MT. This allocation may be enhanced at locations convenient to the State, otherwise earlier allocation from RINL, Vizag and Tindal Steel Plant, Angul, Odisha remains on paper only," he added
Kunte said his request is to enhance allocation from Jamnagar, Gujarat from the current 125 MT/day to 225 MT/day. Similarly, allocation from Bhilai may be increased to 230 MT from current 130 MT, he added.
"These geographically close locations will reduce turnaround time of oxygen tankers, which are limited in number. This will also enhance our daily lifting and better demand management," he added.
"It is also learnt that Government of India is getting ISO Tankers from Singapore, Dubai and other locations abroad, besides oil companies and CONCOR to facilitate LMO transport," Kunte wrote. He further requested the Centre to allocate at least 10 LMO tankers to Maharashtra "to enable us lifting of Gol allocated LMO quota from Steel Plant at Angul via RoRo".
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