Bhutan To Supply 40 MT Of Oxygen Per Day To India From A Factory Bordering Assam

In a positive development, the small landlocked country of Bhutan will provide 40 MT of liquid Oxygen a day to India to boost its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The supply of the life-saving gas will come from a new plant being set up at the Motanga Industrial estate in Samdrup Jongkhar district of Bhutan. The oxygen would be exported to Assam using cryogenic tankers.

A letter by the Indian Embassy in Bhutan stated, “The provision of oxygen by Bhutan will augment India’s efforts to win the fight against COVID-19 and save precious lives. This is a practical manifestation of the uniquely close and friendly ties between India and Bhutan.”

Notably, the construction work of the plant had started a year ago and had been halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, a team comprising Assam’s minister of state for health Pijush Hazarika, Member of Parliament Biswajit Daimary, and others had visited the site to study the possibilities of the resumption of work at the earliest.

After his visit to the site, Hazarika had said, “We have come to the plant under the direction of Himanta Biswa Sarma, minister of health of Assam. He asked me to look into the possibilities of resuming work at the plant. The plant is coming up at Samdrup Jongkhar and when completed it shall supply 50 MT (metric tonne) of oxygen to Assam per day which we can use as a major aid to counter Covid adversities in the state.

“I have informed about the development to the health minister and he has taken up the matter with the Centre to exploit the possibilities to allow workers from Assam or the country to move into the plant. If that can be done, then we can complete the plant in 40 days and get a supply of 50MT of oxygen per day which will be of great help at this time of crisis,” he added.