Nagpur: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has lauded the ‘Mission Oxygen’ initiative launched by Maharashtra Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut to provide much needed medical oxygen to various hospitals across the state during the second wave of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The mission launched by Raut is aimed to provide 2070 Jumbo Oxygen Cylinders per day within the next two months.
In a letter sent to Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut, the Congress President has said it was truly a humanitarian task of the Energy Department headed by Dr Raut who came forward to use the resources at his disposal at a time when Maharashtra is facing an acute shortage of medical oxygen.
It is feared that the third wave would hit the state in the near future.
To increase the availability of Oxygen, Dr Raut has launched Mission Oxygen to be implemented in three phases with the help of Maharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd (Mahagenco).
As a part of the first phase, a medical oxygen plant at Swami Ramanand Tirtha Rural Hospital in Ambejogai district Beed, with a capacity of 288 jumbo cylinders per day was set up by the Parli Thermal Power Station.
With the commissioning of this plant on 27 April, Coovid-affected patients in the Parli-Beed area started getting oxygen cylinders.
A similar plant with a capacity of 84 cubic meters per hour has been set up at Parbhani District Civil Hospital.
As a part of the second phase, the existing ozonation plant of Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station(Nagpur) is being relocated to Kamptee Sub District Hospital. Another existing ozonation plant at Paras Thermal Power Station (Akola) will be relocated soon at Government Hospital Akola.
In the third phase, refilling/bottling plants will be set up at power plants at Koradi (Nagpur), Paras (Akola) and Parli (Beed). This phase will be realised soon by using the latest technology of compressors, filters, sieve and others. The essential machinery and equipment are being imported.
In order to prepare for the third wave in the immediate future, the third phase of the mission is currently in progress.
It is expected that these activities would be completed within the next two months.
