Delhi to receive 70 tonnes of oxygen via Oxygen Express by tonight

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 26, 2021, 1:44 PM IST

Indian Railways is going to deliver more than 140 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen by Monday through "Oxygen Express".

As the country is battling the scourge of the second wave of Covid-19, Indian Railways has embarked upon a mission to deliver medical liquid oxygen to several crisis-hit states, while deploying a no-holds barred approach by re-mobilising its initiative of Covid Care Isolation Coaches.

Indian Railways is going to deliver more than 140 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen by Monday through "Oxygen Express".

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"So far, Oxygen Express has run between Mumbai to Vizag via Nagpur to Nashik and Lucknow to Bokaro and back. A total of 10 containers having nearly 150 tonnes of liquid oxygen have been carried till now," Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma told the media on Sunday.

He added that the tankers will reach Delhi by Monday night. In addition, the Railways has also chalked out plans to transport medical oxygen from Angul, Kalingnagar and Rourkela to Delhi and the National Capital Region, Sharma said, adding that the Delhi government has been advised to get road tankers ready to obtain the oxygen.

The ministry has also asked the Delhi government to obtain more cryogenic tankers. The Railways is also ready to transport oxygen containers on container wagons from Durgapur to Delhi, said officials from the ministry.

The move comes at a time when hospitals in Delhi are struggling with an acute shortage of oxygen for the sixth consecutive day, with some even turning away Covid-19 patients. On Saturday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote an urgent SOS to heads of other states, requesting them to send whatever surplus oxygen and tankers they can spare for the national capital.

The national capital has been grappling with shortage in oxygen supply for the past several days amid a huge surge in Covid-19 cases, with several hospitals even taking to Twitter to send out SOSes for liquid medical oxygen.

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