Need of the hour is to boost supply of O2 cylinders, says Chandranath Sinha

KOLKATA: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Textiles minister, Chandranath Sinha, who plunged into action to sustain the growth of the state's GDP by giving more impetus to both budding and established entrepreneurs, said the need of the hour was to increase the number of oxygen cylinders.

During the first wave of the Covid pandemic, MSME department had played a crucial role in supplying PPE kits, masks, gloves and sanitiser with the bare minimum set-up. This time, the department is leaving no stones unturned to boost the supply of oxygen cylinders.

"This time, the set-up to supply the required number of PPE kits, masks, gloves and sanitisers is already in place. So, we are confident of meeting the requirements. But, the need of the hour is to increase the number of oxygen cylinders. It is the MSME department that is executing the task of converting industrial gas cylinders to medical oxygen cylinders," Sinha said.

The three-time MLA from Bolpur, Sinha was given the portfolio of the MSME department — a sector in which Bengal is ahead of all states — on Monday. Earlier, Sinha was the state Fisheries minister in the second term of Mamata Banerjee's government.

Soon after assuming charge, Sinha held a high-level meeting with senior officials of the department. "So far, around 12,000 industrial cylinders have already been converted and another 8,000 will get converted in the next two to three days. Our present target is to supply a maximum number of oxygen cylinders so that there is no shortage of the same for Covid patients," Sinha added.

As a true lieutenant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, his main focus is on the fight against Covid after winning from Bolpur with a huge margin of 21,971 votes.

He is also focusing on "setting up more MSME units in Bengal with the robust economic policy of Mamata Banerjee in place, which encourages both life and livelihood to proceed hand-in-hand."

The focus is also on the agro-industrial park at Singur where the state government eyes investment of at least Rs 200 crore and generation of around 5,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. The park is being developed by the West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation (WBSIDC), which works under the aegis of the MSME and T department.

The minister would be holding a crucial meeting with all concerned officers of the department on Monday to prepare a detailed roadmap to move ahead with a target of contributing more to the state's GDP through MSME and other works needed to tackle the Covid situation.

Bengal tops the list among all the states in the country in the MSME sector with more than 135.52 lakh people getting employed in at least 88.67 lakh units in the state. MSME played a crucial role in Bengal's GDP that has gone up by at least 2.7 times since 2011. When Bengal was ahead of other states in the country, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar provided employment to 61.16 lakh people in 33.16 lakh MSME units, 48.8 lakh people in 26.74 lakh units and 53.07 lakh people in 34.46 lakh MSME units respectively.