Environment and Guardian Minister of Suburbs Aaditya Thackeray on Monday inaugurated two oxygen bottling plants at Mahul and Mahalaxmi racecourse.
Thackeray said that BMC is the first municipal corporation to build such kinds of medical oxygen bottling plants in India and this plant will help BMC to save around Rs 1.5 crore of funds and precious transportation time.
Thackeray, who inaugurated the plants through video conferencing, said, "During the Covid second wave, the BMC had faced acute shortage of oxygen. BMC officers had managed to procure oxygen from other states to save the lives of Mumbai citizens. To avoid such a situation in future, the BMC decided to set up its own oxygen bottling plants. The BMC is the first municipal corporation across India to set up such plants of its own."
Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said, "There are 186 Covid hospitals in Mumbai. During the second wave, the hospitals faced practical difficulties in supplying oxygen from one hospital to another. Those problems will be solved after the functioning of Mahul and Mahalaxmi oxygen bottling plants. During the second wave, Mumbai needed 200 oxygen cylinders in a day but now the Mahalaxmi plant alone is capable of supplying 100 to 120 cylinders. This is enough to show the oxygen generation capacity of BMC."
According to BMC, BPCL is producing 72 metric tonnes of medical oxygen in a day at the Mahul plant out of which 10 to 15 metric tonnes will be made available for the BMC. Hence, BMC can fill 1,500 jumbo cylinders in a day at Mahul.
The Mahalaxmi plant has the capacity to save 13,000-litre liquid oxygen and fill 100 to 120 cylinders, officials said.
