India News | Punjab: Oxygen Plants Given Thrust Sector Status, Eligible for Tax Benefits

Chandigarh, May 5 (PTI) Faced with a shortage of oxygen supply amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Punjab government on Wednesday announced thrust sector status for all oxygen production units, which will now be eligible for exemption in taxes and duties.

At a virtual cabinet meeting here, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said oxygen production units with a minimum capacity of 700 cylinders daily, equivalent to five metric tonne, oxygen cylinder manufacturers or fabricators and oxygen concentrator manufacturing units will be given 'thrust status'.

Oxygen refilling units will not be covered under the special status.

With this decision, both old and new units will become eligible for 100 per cent exemption from change of land use (CLU) or external development charges (EDC), property tax, electricity duty, stamp duty and investment subsidy, by way of reimbursement of goods and services tax up to 125 per cent of fixed capital investment made in land and machinery, according to a government release.

The chief minister said the way things were going currently, the situation was likely to worsen in the coming days with nobody knowing "how many more waves of COVID would hit the country and the state".

The cabinet took the decision to help the state cope with the emergent situation arising out of acute shortage of oxygen in view of the increased COVID-19 caseload in the state.

For the week ending May 4, the state had an average positivity rate of 11.6 per cent, with a fatality rate of 2.1 per cent, from a sample size of 74 lakh.

Currently, the daily Oxygen allocation to Punjab stands at 195 MT from outside the state. This includes Inox plant at Baddi (60 MT), Air Liquide plant at Panipat (20 MT), Air Liquide plant at Roorkee (15 MT), Linde plant at Dehradun (10 MT) and Inox plant at Bokaro (90 MT).

However, only 140 MT is actually being supplied from these plants on a daily basis, with a shortage of tankers hampering the lifting of oxygen especially from Bokaro.

Health Secretary Hussan Lal informed the cabinet that 14 districts had a positivity rate of over 10 per cent, and six districts have over 11 per cent positivity rate with Mohali having the highest at 25 per cent. Deaths were fewer among the young, he said.

The situation was grim with 70 per cent level-2 beds and over 80 per cent level-3 beds in government and private hospitals occupied, the Health Secretary said, adding with 10-30 patients going in ventilator support every day.

Besides initiating the process to add 2,000 beds in government medical colleges, district hospitals and the temporary hospitals in Bathinda and Mohali by the end of the month, direct recruitment had been started for regular staff, the meeting was informed.

A large number of personnel, including students and interns as well as outsourced staff, had also been put on special COVID duties. Orders have been placed for essential drugs, including 50 lakh remdesivir 100 mg injections, and the supplies were expected in the next few days, Lal said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)