Ambani sends oxygen from refineries for Covid fight

April 15, 2021 23:00

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd is diverting oxygen produced at its refineries to supplement availability in worst-hit COVID states like Maharashtra and the trucks carrying supplies are in transit, sources said.

Reliance's twin oil refineries in Jamnagar have through minor process modification converted industrial oxygen into medical-use oxygen that can be administered to COVID-19 patients low on oxygen, people aware of the development said.

In all, 100 tonnes of oxygen will be supplied from the Jamnagar refineries, they said.

"The supplies will be free of cost since it is for a humanitarian cause," one of the persons said.

Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde too confirmed that the state would get 100 tonnes of oxygen from Reliance.

The person cited above said the trucks carrying oxygen cylinders are in transit.

However, another source said trucks are stuck in Jamnagar after local authorities stopped their movement.

Unable to get prompt supplies, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While Maharashtra is among the worst-hit states facing a fresh outbreak of the pandemic, Gujarat too has seen number of patients swell.

Over four dozen trucks carrying oxygen cylinders are stuck in Jamnagar, sources said.

An e-mail sent to the company for comments remained unanswered.

Facing a huge shortfall in oxygen supplies, Thackeray is believed to have dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the availability of medical oxygen.

He also wrote to Modi saying medical oxygen requirement in the state is projected to reach 2,000 tonnes per day by April-end against the present requirement of 1,200 tonnes.

Oil refineries can produce limited volumes of industrial oxygen in air-separation plants meant for nitrogen production. Scrubbing out other gases such as carbon dioxide can convert it into medical-use oxygen with 99.9 per cent purity.

Reliance operates the world's largest oil refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat. -- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

LIVE! PM meets Mahabharata, Ramayana's Arabic translator

Govt tweaks poll rule to curb public inspection of...

Based on the recommendation of the Election Commission (EC), the Union law ministry on Friday amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict the type of "papers" or documents open to public inspection.

'Pushpa 2' stampede: CM lambast 'inhuman' Allu Arjun

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has criticized Telugu actor Allu Arjun for attending the screening of 'Pushpa-2' despite police permission being denied. Reddy alleges that the actor continued to be present at the cinema hall...

TN temple refuses to return iPhone dropped in 'hundi'

As per the practises and tradition at the temples, any offerings made into the hundial directly goes into the account of the deity of that temple. Rules do not permit the administration to return the offerings back to the devotees, Babu...

Amid Ambedkar row, AAP declares scholarship for Dalits

In the run-up to the assembly elections in Delhi, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal announced an Ambedkar scholarship for free foreign education of the city's Dalit students. The scholarship is a response to the BJP's "insult" of Ambedkar,...