This story is from May 18, 2021

Raigad is now oxygen powerhouse of Maharashtra

As Maharashtra tides over the oxygen crisis amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Raigad district has emerged as one of the state’s key oxygen manufacturing hubs. The district has increased its oxygen manufacturing capacity by almost 40% in the last one year and is now producing around 650 tonnes of medical oxygen every day.
Covid-19: How Raigad has become oxygen powerhouse of Maharashtra
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MUMBAI: As Maharashtra tides over the oxygen crisis amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Raigad district has emerged as one of the state’s key oxygen manufacturing hubs. The district has increased its oxygen manufacturing capacity by almost 40% in the last one year and is now producing around 650 tonnes of medical oxygen every day.
While the district needs only around 30 tonnes of medical oxygen per day, Raigad is helping Mumbai and other cities in MMR and even districts like Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Beed, Jalna, Kolhapur and districts in Marathwada region meet their medical oxygen demand.
Mumbai needs around 240 tonnes of oxygen a day. Around 180 tonnes is used from oxygen tanks installed at major hospitals. The remaining 60 tonnes is supplied through jumbo and dura cylinders that come from Raigad.
“At the start of the first wave, Raigad had a capacity to manufacture around 400 tonnes of medical oxygen. This has been augmented to 650 tonnes per day. Raigad’s demand is around 30 tonnes and we are sending the rest to other districts, including the MMR. We were not complacent after the first wave and carried on with capacity enhancement measures. There has been a 40% increase in production,” said Nidhi Choudhary, Raigad Collector.
According to Choudhary, not only was the capacity of existing medical oxygen plants ramped up, but they also fast-tracked the conversion of industrial oxygen into medical oxygen. Within Raigad district, Pen, Dolvi, Mangaon and Taloja are the main oxygen manufacturing areas. Oxygen manufacturer INOX Air is located in Dolvi.
“Apart from adding capacities in existing plants and getting steel units like JSW in Dolvi to make medical oxygen, we have set up a pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen plant at the district hospital in Alibaug which produces six tonnes of medical oxygen per day. We are adding four more PSA plants at our sub-district hospitals too,” Choudhary said.
“We have also added seven tonnes a day from the Tata Steel plant at Khopoli. The FDA and transport department helped fast-track approvals and make the supply chain smoother. We will look to increase capacity further so that the rest of the state can breathe easy,” Choudhary said.
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