Aasha Khosa/New Delhi

The uninterrupted supply of oxygen for Covid patients in the hospitals, isolation centres and homes across India is facing a bottleneck - the lack of cryogenic vessels and cylinder that are used for carrying Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO).

No country in the world would have cryogenic tankers - special chambers that can naintain extremely low temperatures to keep the liquid-oxygen stable - in enough numbers to meet the needs of a vast country like India in a pandemic situation.

Recognising this core problem, the Tata Group has already placed orders for 25 cryogenic tanks with Germany to scale its role in India’s fight against Covid.

The company said it's committed to joining India's fight against Covid.

Oxygen is used in many industries particularly steel manufacturing, aviation, space sciences, Oil industry etc and India being the world's largest producer of iron ore generates enough to meet the requirements of the proportion that Covid has thrown us into.

According to the reports, in the pre-Covid era, the daily requirement was about 300-400 metric tons and it has skyrocketed given the rising number of Covid infections. According to official figures, the 20 Covid affected states has asked for 6,785 metric tonnes of LMO daily.

The gap in production and demand is being bridged by diverting the industrial oxygen for the medical emergency. However, India needs more cryogenic tankers and vessels and also cylinders to cope with the rising cases of Covid. The logistics of the oxygen remains a problem since it has to be carried from point one to the other in special tankers. Indian industry was so far self-sufficient in cryogenic tankers but there are not enough to cater to the sudden spurt in the demand in the second wave of the Covid pandemic.The situation is surely going to ease once the tankers arrive from Germany.

Indian Air Force, in the meanwhile, had chipped in the national mission against Covid; It has airlifted the oxygen containers from Hindon airbase to Panagarh, Orissa, for recharging and shared the feel-good pictures on Twitter.

Similar airlift tasks are underway across the country.

#IndiaFightsCorona

C-17 and IL-76 aircraft airlifted cryogenic oxygen containers from Air Force Station Hindan to Panagarh for recharging, in support of the fight against Covid-19. Similar airlift tasks are underway across the country. pic.twitter.com/1GMdOBRqWY

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 23, 2021

It is worth mentioning that India’s has indigenously developed cryogenic capability after the west denied it under the pretext of sanctions in the wake of India’s first nuclear test in Pokharan, Rajasthan, in 1974. However, USSR had helped India back then.

Indian companies manufacturing cryogenic cylinder say it’s not possible for them to ramp up the production overnight to meet the growing demand.

Mumbai based Everest Kanto cylinder is one company that has joined in the efforts to fight against Covid. It has the capacity to make 2,000 cylinders per day as against the demand for 10,000. Since manufacturing cylinders requires procurement of raw materials, it’s not so easy for them to suddenly increase production.

Many companies say initially they had planned to upscale their production during the last year’s Covid wave. Since the situation seemed to have improved many companies gave up the idea.

Orissa is one of the largest makers of oxygen and mercifully it’s not a covid hotspot. Authorities in charge of the Oxygen supply are now trying to convert cryogenic tankers used for liquid hydrogen and nitrogen into carrying LMO.

In the meanwhile, Railway minister Piyush Goyal had Tweeted The first ‘Oxygen Express’ train loaded with liquid medical oxygen tankers has left from Bokaro to Uttar {radesh. He has been posting such reassuring messages almost every day. On Friday he posted a video of the train carrying oxygen tankers moving from Bokaro on Twitter:

उत्तर प्रदेश में ऑक्सीजन की आपूर्ति हेतु बोकारो स्टील प्लांट से ऑक्सीजन एक्सप्रेस लखनऊ के लिये चल चुकी है। इसके जल्दी पहुंचने के लिये ग्रीन कॉरीडोर बनाया जा चुका है।

राज्यों में ऑक्सीजन की तेजी से, एवं समुचित सप्लाई के लिये, रेलवे प्रतिबद्ध है, और निरंतर कार्य कर रही है। pic.twitter.com/0bmd30lWRL

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 23, 2021

 Railways continue to serve the nation in difficult times by transporting essential commodities and driving innovation to ensure the wellbeing of all citizens. Piyush Goyal.

The Defence Ministry has decided to airlift 23 mobile oxygen generating plants from Germany. Each plant will have a capacity to produce 40 litres of oxygen per minute and 2,400 litres every hour. A spokesperson of the Ministry said the plants will be deployed in the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) hospitals where COVID-19 patients are being treated. Earlier Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had announced granting emergency financial powers to the three services and other defence agencies to make necessary procurement to meet the exigencies of the pandemic. The IAF planes will airlift  the plants from Germany as soon as these are ready.

Steel Major Jindal Steel has also offered 50,000 metric tons of oxygen from its steel plant in Madhya Pradesh. Naveen Jindal, owner of the Jindal Industries and member of Parliament visited his plant to oversee the operations. He also posted pictures of his company's efforts in supplying oxygen to various states on Twitter:

20 MT Liquid Medical Oxygen tanker ready to be dispatched to Telangana from @jsplcorporate Angul.

Tomorrow, we will also be sending tankers of #liquidOxygen to Batra Hospital, Medanta and Artemis Hospital in Delhi/NCR along with Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. Jai Hind🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/YInSM2tpjC

— Naveen Jindal (@MPNaveenJindal) April 22, 2021