Air of hope: UPSIDA to set up oxygen grid across state

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) will be setting up an ‘oxygen grid’ across the state which will extend from Saharanpur in the west to Deoria in the east. The grid will consist of oxygen production units for which UPSIDA will be providing various incentives to investors.
“So far, 19 medium-sized companies from across many districts such as Greater Noida, Saharanpur, Shajahanpur, Bareilly, Mathura, Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Basti, Sultanpur, Amethi, Gorakhpur, Mau, Varanasi, Prayagraj have shown interest in setting up units with proposed investment of nearly Rs 503 crore.These projects are expected to produce 770 tons of oxygen and nitrogen per day,” said a spokesperson. Out of these, seven have been allocated land while an in-principle approval for allotment has been issued to another four.
He said that to promote the oxygen manufacturing industry, it had been decided to provide a 24X7 facility for online application for allotment of land, priority allotment of land within a week and prompt clearances through the Nivesh Mitra portal.
UPSIDA has offered 4,000 square metre land to M/s Prabha Engineering Construction in Saraswati High Tech City in Naini (Prayagraj) for a liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, and industrial and medical oxygen plant. The plant, with an investment of Rs 15.76 crore, will have a capacity of 1,100 to 1,500 cylinders per day. The company has also adopted three government hospitals in Prayagraj and will provide free oxygen.
Another 1,800 sqmt land has been allotted to M/s Tulip Oxygen in Hardoi which plans to invest Rs 2.83 crore for a production capacity of 600-700 oxygen cylinders and refilling of 500-600 oxygen cylinders per day for medical and industrial purposes. The unit is expected to start production within 18 months.
Kribhco Fertilizers is setting up a liquid oxygen plant in Shahjahanpur Industrial Area. It will have a capacity of 500 litres per minute. The company has entered into an agreement with Airox Nigen Equipments Pvt Ltd and plans to invest Rs 1 crore and start production within 15 days.