Recently, the Centre allocated 40 MT of oxygen from Inox Kanjikode in Kerala to Tamilnadu, to combat the lack of oxygen in the state. This order has now been overruled by the state of Kerala.
A statement that was issued by VP Joy, the Chief Secretary of Kerala, described that under the disaster management act, 150 MT of oxygen would go to the state of Kerala. It is to be noted that the entire capacity of the plant is 170 MT.
Following this, the Centre had issued a directive to stop the supply to Karnataka but continue the supply of 40 MT of oxygen to Tamilnadu for 4 days between May 9 and 12. While INOX Kanjikode was to supply 40 MT of oxygen to Tamilnadu and 20 MT of oxygen to Karnataka under the order of the Centre, this allocation had been revised after the new directive.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan issued a new order following the revision, stating that the state will not be able to send oxygen to Tamil Nadu as the demand in their state was increasing and that the rising number of patients needed oxygen. He added that this puts a lot of strain on the state’s oxygen stock and so, they would be unable to meet that demand if exported.
It is to be noted that only recently, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin had asked the Centre for oxygen following which this revised directive was issued. While Kerala has conveniently ignored the directive from the Centre, it has also ungratefully forgotten the aid that Tamilnadu offered to Kerala during the disastrous Kerala floods.
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