Chennai, April 25(BPNS)
Tamil Nadu Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday, wrote a letter to Prime minister Narendra Modi on the diversion of Oxygen produced in TN to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.
Chief minister in his letter mentioned that with 1 lakh more active cases in Tamil Nadu the requirement of medical oxygen will increase in his state in the days to come. He also said that the state, even though the government is taking all precautions, may require 450 MT of Oxygen on a daily basis and that would be more than the state’s daily production capacity of 400 MT.
Edappadi K Palaniswami said that while the number of active cases peaked at around 58000 in 2020 ,the state has already crossed the 1 lakh mark and that this may increase leading to more requirement of Oxygen for the people of the state. He said ,”All efforts are being made to provide uninterrupted and adequate Oxygen supply in the state.”
The TN Chief minister in his letter mentioned that according to the National Medical Oxygen Allotment plan, allotment at Tamil nadu has been fixed at 220 MT and based on this allotment- which was totally wrong, 80 MT of liquid Oxygen has been diverted from the manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. The Chief minister in his letter to PM said “This was owing to the wrong assumption that the consumption in Tamil Nadu was much lower than the production in the state which was totally wrong and according to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisations (PESO) data, the consumption of Oxygen in TN has already reached 310 MT which is much higher than the inadequate allotment made to the state at 220 MT.”
He also pointed out that the daily cases in Tamil Nadu was much higher than the states to which the Oxygen allotment has been made and that there were major Steel plants in these states as well as nearer to these states. Palaniswami said, “There is no justification in the allotment of Oxygen to these states and hence this has to be corrected immediately. I urge you to cancel the allocation of 80 KL of liquid Oxygen from the Sriperumbudur plant immediately.”
