Nagpur transporter spends own money to help city get oxygen supply

For Nagpur-based businessman Pyare Khan, the best Zakat or charity during the holy month of Ramzan was to help the pandemic-ravaged city get oxygen.

Khan, who runs a transport company, has arranged over 20 oxygen tankers for the city at his own expense as the city grapples with shortages of the life-saving gas.

Khan has spent around Rs 1 crore for procuring oxygen tankers, oxygen concentrators and cylinders, he told PTI.

Through newspapers, he learnt about severe shortage of oxygen in hospitals, he said.

''The holy month of Ramzan had started. We offer Zakat (donation for charitable causes) during this period, and I thought this time instead of giving Zakat to a mosque or madarsa, we should do something to address the shortage of oxygen,'' Khan said.

Initially, he contacted suppliers in Bengaluru and arranged two oxygen tankers, paying two or three times the normal rate.

Nagpur MP and Union minister Nitin Gadkari helped him arrange oxygen supply from Visakhapatnam, he said.

Khan roped in the drivers working for his transport firm to bring five tankers from the eastern coast city, he said.

''We have till now arranged about 20-22 liquid oxygen tankers and spent about Rs 1 crore,'' Khan added.

He has also donated Rs 50 lakh for procuring 116 oxygen concentrators for government-run COVID-19 hospitals in the city, he said.

Khan and his team are also helping the district authorities monitor the transport of oxygen using their professional expertise, Gadkari had told reporters on Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)