Bengaluru, May 26: Amid demand for oxygen with the rising COVID cases, Karnataka Minister Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday said an attractive incentive plan would be rolled out for industrialists seeking to start new oxygen production plants in the State.

"The officials of the Industries Department have been instructed to plan an attractive incentive for industrialists seeking to start new plants to increase the production of oxygen in the State for which the State government will be providing detailed information soon," the Medium and Large Industries Minister said in a statement after a meeting with senior officials.

He said constant negotiations with the Central government have resulted in the State distributing 1,200 metric tonnes of liquefied oxygen daily.

After taking charge of the State's oxygen production and supply, I have been in regular contact with the Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, and D V Sadananda Gowda on the need for more oxygen. At the same time, the State has been allowed to utilise the oxygen produced in the State," he said.

According to him, out of the 1,200 MT, 830 MT is the allocation from within the State from six main producers, 60 MT from micro, small and medium enterprises pressure swing absorption plant that has been authorised by the Central government and 310 MT is to be brought from other States, including 240 MT from Maharashtra and 70 MT from Orissa.

The Minister instructed the officials to plan to increase the capacity of oxygen buffer stock storage in the districts.

Increasing the storage capacity by 20 MT in each district would facilitate the use of the gas in emergency situations, he said.

Shettar said the distribution of oxygen is based on the active cases in the respective districts and accordingly, oxygen is transported to the respective hospitals each day.

In the last five days, the State received 889.93, 855.21, 1,062.71, 899.22 and 728.36 metric tonnes respectively.

Overall, the average amount of oxygen available was 887.08 MT.

According to him, the operation of two 500 LPM PM oxygen generator plants in Kolar Gold Field and Yadgir.

He added that efforts were on to revive defunct oxygen plants and to leverage Karnataka Power Corporation Limited oxygen gas generation capacity at their Yelahanka, Raichur, and Bidar plants.

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Bajpe: Police have arrested a youth for allegedly posting derogatory and defamatory content against the Bajpe police on social media.

The arrested accused has been identified as Abhishek M. (23), a resident of Katipalla, Surathkal.

According to the police, Abhishek posted a photograph of Bajpe Nisarga Hotel on his Instagram account mr_a_titude_22, alleging that accused persons in a murder case under the jurisdiction of the Bajpe police station were being treated “like royalty” by the police and were being served beef meals from the hotel every day. In his post, he further accused the police of colluding with criminals and misusing their authority, stating that public trust in the police was being betrayed.

Following which, the Bajpe police registered a case and arrested the accused.

Police records reveal that Abhishek is already facing multiple criminal cases. A case of murder, attempt to murder, assault and robbery has been registered against him at the Surathkal police station. At the same time, a robbery case has also been registered at the Kaup police station.

After his arrest, Abhishek was handed over to the custody of the CEN police for further investigation. He was later produced before a court, police said.