OXYGEN CRISIS IN INDIA- 2021 EXPLAINED

 

Understanding Oxygen Infrastructure and the Emergency in the Second wave of Covid19

(Numbers may differ due to the difference in timing between writing and posting this article) 

"You may be blind, but we are not": HC slams Centre over deaths due to scant oxygen supply in Delhi

 

"The system has failed": High court slams Delhi govt over 'black marketing of oxygen cylinders'

 

"You can put your head in the sand like an ostrich, we won't": HC on oxygen shortage

-Supreme court and High Court's statements 

Oxygen tanks

I am quite sure we are all aware of the scarcity of oxygen prevailing in our country.

An enormous number of people have already lost their lives and many are still struggling. Presently, when I am writing this blog, there are  21,892,676  active cases and the death tally has risen to 238,270.  

But who is responsible for this frightening situation? 

Some of you will say Central government and some will say State government.  Let's find out who made this situation extremely terrible.

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Let's get started,

Oxygen production in India on 12th April 2021 was 7,100 Metric Ton and the consumption was 3800 MT.   

As you can clearly see in the picture, the total production rate is almost double the consumption rate. Until now, India was self-sufficient in Oxygen production and was in a state of surplus.

 But soon after, India was hit hard by the second wave of the coronavirus. At the time of writing 4 Lakh cases were recorded. Therefore, the increase in the number of active cases is directly proportional to the need for oxygen because the Coronavirus directly infects the lungs.

 Due to this on 22nd April 2021, our demand reached 6800 MT,  the demand doubled within the span of 10 days, but even to this date, we were producing more than the actual requirement. The increase of 75% in the demand makes the supply chain stress full. As per the numbers, we should have managed to meet the demands of the states who required oxygen. However, some serious challenges led our system to collapse.

 Actual challenges: 

• Supply chain: Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar were among the first few states that were affected by the second wave of Corona Virus after Maharashtra. However, a handful of oxygen production plants were operating in these states. In some states, like MP, there was not even a single plant of oxygen.

• Uneven Production of Oxygen:  India is one of the highest oxygen-producing countries but the production is not evenly spread. In simple words, there are only a few states in India that are producing oxygen, the Highest production of oxygen is in Maharashtra, followed by Gujrat but the highest consumption was in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh which gave rise to a third challenge.

• Transportation: Until now it was understandable- 

1. there was an uneven production of oxygen in certain states
2. in some there was a dense production and 
3. in others, there was no production at all.

So to match the requirement, we had to transport the oxygen from one state to another and that would have solved our problem, right? But there is another twist in the story! Transportation of oxygen is truly a strenuous task in itself.

   

Let's understand with the help of an example-

Odisha is one of the producers of oxygen but the highest demand was in Delhi, The distance between Delhi and Odisha is 1,554.2 km. Transporting oxygen from such a great distance is a gigantic task because Industrial oxygen is produced with 99.05% purity and is transported in special cryogenic tankers. 

Also, when filled with oxygen, these tankers cannot be airlifted because this may lead to a blast, so the only way to transport within India is Via Road and Rail transport and that too with a maximum speed of 40Kmph-60Kmph. 

Now just imagine how much time it will take to travel 1,554.2 km with a speed of 40Kmph? 

 Now, the next problem arises, once the oxygen has reached the respective state, the oxygen then has to be re-gassed from its liquid state because the oxygen can only be brought from one state to another in liquid form. India does not have a sufficient amount of Cryogenic tankers that are supposed to do this job. 

Now I hope you might have understood the need for these special  Cryogenic tankers.

These were some actual scientific issues that our government had to face while trying to cope up with this challenge. But this is just one side of the picture, this blog only discussed the cause of the situation without any political inclination.

Next blog- Political reasons for this devastation and the steps taken by our government to handle it. 

Presently, the Oxygen crisis is a burning issue in our country and many of us are not familiar with the root causes of the situation. If the blog helped you to understand the situation to some extent, please share it as much as possible. Till then, stay in touch and stay safe. 

JAI HIND!