Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that Department of Space has gone beyond its call to provide COVID related support mainly liquid oxygen to States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh. In an online review meeting, Chairman, ISRO, Dr. K. Sivan said that 9.5 tonnes of oxygen being given to Tamil Nadu and Kerala per day, besides the oxygen capacity of Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh was augmentd. He said, 87 Tonnes of LOX manufactured and supplied by ISRO Propulsion Complex, IPRC already given to Tamil Nadu and Kerala by ensuring 24x7 work schedule. Moreover, 12 MT of LOX sent to augment Oxygen availability in Andhra Pradesh. He said, the Department is also ensuring supply of Oxygen cylinders for local public in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Advanced Medical devices designed including ventilators, Prana, and VaU and manufacturing to be taken up with industries at the earliest.

Dr Jitendra Singh was informed that the Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad has successfully converted 2 Liquid Nitrogen Tanks of about 1.65 lakh litres into liquid oxygen tanks for storage and supply in Ahmedabad and nearby hospitals. Moreover, Face Shields and PPE kits are also being supplied to hospitals in Ahmedabad.

The Minister said that Oxygen Concentrators being procured for Dispensaries for use by needy patients and the Design of disinfectant chamber for baggage & new Oxygen concentrators is already in progress.

The other technological support provided by the Department of Space includes, Covid vaccination centers mapping across India integrated with Cowin app to help citizen reach the nearest vaccination center, deployment of  Non-contact Thermal camera developed  by SAC, development of COVID-19 Dashboard in  Sync with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the development of a mobile app ‘FIGHT CORONA’ in collaboration with ICMR, Dibrugarh, Assam for collection of geotagged information of Covid19 cases in the state of Tripura.

Senior officials of Department of Space informed Dr Jitendra Singh that work is on for the 10 scheduled Satellite launch projects including the unmanned Gaganyaan Mission in December this year. The Minister expressed satisfaction that despite the crippling effects of the pandemic, the launch campaign activities continued over Virtual Launch Control for PSLV-C49, C50 and C51 during the past six months.

Dr Jitendra Singh also asked the department to explore the possibility of creating more COVID Care Centres apart from the ones established in Bengaluru, Shillong and Sriharikota.

The Minister expressed satisfaction over the various measures taken the Department of Space to contain the COVID menace and specially appreciated the introduction of Bio-bubble teams and vaccination of about 30 percent of the staff so far.

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SNC