Rajasthan does not have enough tankers to ferry 255MT of allotted oxygen daily | Jaipur News

A Covid patient waits in an ambulance outside satellite hospital in Ajmer on Monday

Jaipur: Even as the Centre has allocated 255 metric tonnes of oxygen to Rajasthan, the supply management is a challenge with the state having just 28 operational tankers. The state government has sought 54 more tankers, with fleet size having a combined capacity of 500 metric tonnes, from the centre for an uninterrupted supply of oxygen from states like West Bengal and Odisha.
The allocation includes 100 metric tonnes from Bhiwadi’s Inox Air Products oxygen plant, 40 MT from Jamnagar (Gujarat), 15 MT from Panipat (Haryana), 40 MT from Steel Authority of India (Burnpur, West Bengal) and 60 MT from Tata Steel (Kalinganagar, Odisha).
“They have not got back to us. They are planning that exercise and will have to tell us when they will send it (oxygen). There is definitely a shortage of tankers. If you need to bring oxygen from West Bengal and Odisha and if 100 metric tonnes are to be lifted per day, and travelling takes five days, then we have to send tankers having a total capacity of 500 metric tonnes. So, currently, our total fleet size is barely 300 metric tonnes. Hence, to lift oxygen from these places daily, a dedicated fleet would be needed having a capacity of 500 metric tonnes,” said an official.
Chief secretary Niranjan Arya, while reviewing the need and availability of oxygen in the state on Monday, directed the officials to expedite delivery of oxygen concentrators in the state.
Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), mines and petroleum department, Subodh Aggarwal on Monday said that by May 15, about 11,000 oxygen concentrators will be delivered (across the state). Vice-chairman of Rajasthan Foundation Dheeraj Srivastava informed that 450 concentrators of 10 litre capacity will be available by May 7 and 250 concentrators by May10 and these will be directly supplied to the districts.
“There has been an increase in the production of oxygen by local manufacturers from 125 MT (rated capacity) to 142 MT,” said an official. Hence, with the Government of India increasing the allocation for Rajasthan, the total availability of oxygen would add up to 397 MT per day. “The requirement of oxygen per day keeps changing. The formula is active Covid cases x .12 x 2.5/100. One metric tonne of oxygen is equal to 100 cylinders,” said an official. “We have asked the central government to supply oxygen to the state as per the formula,” he added.