Amidst the 2nd wave of Coronavirus pandemic in India, the neighbouring nation of Bhutan has come forward to help the country at the time of crisis.
In a press release on Monday (April 26), the Indian Embassy in Thimphu informed that an oxygen plant in Eastern Bhutan will supply liquid oxygen to India. The press release was shared on Twitter by journalist Tenzing Lamsang. “In the context of the present COVID situation, Bhutan will supply liquid oxygen to India from a new plant being set up at the Motanga Industrial Estate, Samdrup Jongkhar district by M/s S.D. Cryogenics Gases Pvt. Ltd., a Bhutanese company,” the statement read.
The Indian Embassy stated that 40MT of liquid oxygen will be produced every day at the Oxygen Plant, which will then be transported to Assam via cryogenic tankers. It further added, “The oxygen plant has domestic investment of 51% by M/s SD Cryogenics and FDI component of 49% by Meghalaya Oxygen Pvt. Ltd., an Assam-based Indian company.”
So it is confirmed that Bhutan will be supplying 40 MT of liquid Oxygen a day to India from a factory in Samdrupjongkhar which borders Assam 🇧🇹🇮🇳. pic.twitter.com/tJKW404Bdb
— Tenzing Lamsang (@TenzingLamsang) April 27, 2021
“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,” the Indian Embassy in Thimphu concluded.
EU, Singapore, Germany help India amidst rising Coronavirus cases
On Saturday (April 24), the Singapore embassy in India informed that 4 cryogenic oxygen containers were transported to India from Changi airport in Singapore via an Indian Air Force (IAF) carrier. Min-Liang Tan, Singaporean entrepreneur and the co-founder of Razor Inc. had also offered surgical masks to India. The Singaporean embassy in India has responded by saying that it will reach out to his office.
On Friday, EAM (Minister for External Affairs) S Jaishankar held a meeting with Vice-President Margrethe Vestager to discuss preparation for the India-EU summit. He thanked the EU for offering support on the existing Coronavirus crisis in the country. “Confident that EU will help strengthen our capabilities at this critical juncture,” S Jaishankar said.
In a tweet, the German embassy in India informed, “In this spirit, the private German company Linde together with Tata have managed to secure 24 oxygen transport tanks that will be airlifted to India in order to increase transport capacity from production sites to Covid19 hotspots.” This is despite the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had recently lamented that the European Union had ‘allowed’ India to become the pharmacy of the world.