From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, May 12: Large and medium industries minister Jagadish Shettar has instructed officials to ensure an adequate supply of oxygen in the state's districts to ensure availability of the oxygen.
The minister also congratulated the union government on the supply of six containers of oxygen which arrived in the state on Tuesday and said that four more containers would be provided in the coming days.
Shettar held a meeting with senior officials on the production and supply of oxygen in the state on Wednesday and obtained comprehensive information on oxygen production and supply in the state.
An average of 1015 metric tons of oxygen has been assigned to the state so far.
"The state is getting enough oxygen from various sources. But demand is increasing in the same way,’’ he said asking the officials to regularise supply.
He said more attention should be paid to ensuring that the districts of the state are supplied according to their demand and 24 hours of information should be taken and supply to be done.
The minister instructed the authorities not to cause any confusion or problems.
Shettar said the Centre on Tuesday issued a total of 120 metric tonnes of liquefied oxygen in six containers due to continuous consultations with union ministers Piyush Goyal, Prahlad Joshi and D V Sadananda Gowda.
The union minister had promised to provide four more containers of oxygen in the next few days, he added.
Shettar said the state now needs more cylinders and oxygen concentrators. So far, 320 cylinders and 400 oxygen concentrators have been issued by the centre.
"We have requested the supply of 7,700 cylinders and 1,000 oxygen concentrators,’’ he said.
Additional chief secretary, Raj Kumar Khatri, additional chief secretary Jawaid Akhtar, health secretary, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, general secretary of mines and MSME, commissioner of industrial development, Gunjan Krishna, oxygen supply committee Dr Sivashankar, drugs controller, Amaresh Tubagi, Karnataka Occupation Alliance managing director, Revanna Gowda were also present.