Immdly cancel diversion of 80 KL of oxygen from TN : Palaniswami urges Modi

Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately cancel the diversion of 80 KL of oxygen from the Sriperumpudur plant to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in view of the growing medical oxygen needs of the State.

In a Demi-Official letter to Mr Modi, copies of which were released to the media here he cited the growing Medical oxygen needs of the State, due to high level of oxygen dependant active cases and the need to ensure adequate oxygen availability in Tamil Nadu.

The State is taking all efforts to reduce the positive cases. “But considering the current trends, the State would require 450 MTs shortly which would be more than our production capacity of 400 MTs”, he said.

Mr Palaniswami said as compared to the maximum active case number of around 58,000 during the previous surge in 2020, the active caseload has already increased to over a lakh today.This has increased the oxygen demand and all efforts are being made to provide uninterrupted and adequate oxygen supply, he added.

Stating that in the latest National Medical Oxygen allotment plan allocation for Tamil Nadu has been fixed at 220 MTs, the Chief Minister said based on this wrong allotment, 80 MTs of liquid oxygen has been diverted from the manufacturing facilities located at Sriperumpudur, near here, to Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

‘This is based on the wrong position that the existing oxygen consumption in Tamil Nadu is lower than the manufacturing capacity’, he pointed out.

He said as per Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisations (PESO) data, the consumption of oxygen in Tamil Nadu has already reached 310 MTs as against the inadequate allotment made to the
State of only 220 MTs.

‘Also, the States to which the allotment has been made have lower number of active cases than us and also have major steel industries located within the their State/close to their States’, Mr Palaniswami said.

Hence, the diversion from Sriperumpudur plant which supplies to Chennai City with the second biggest case load in South India seems to have no justification. ‘This needs to be immediately corrected. While Tamil Nadu has never imposed any restrictions so far and is always ready to support other States, such mandatory diversion of liquid oxygen from the needs of our State can lead to major crisis in Chennai and other districts’, the Chief Minister said and requested Mr Modi to canel the 80 KL diversion of oxygen from Sriperumbudur plant immediately.

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