Odisha forms dedicated corridor to transport surplus medical oxygen to other states

Amid the acute shortage of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) due to the COVID-19 surge in several parts of the country, Odisha Police has formed a dedicated corridor to ensure uninterrupted transportation of surplus LMO to different states.

Amid the acute shortage of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) due to the COVID-19 surge in several parts of the country, Odisha Police has formed a dedicated corridor to ensure uninterrupted transportation of surplus LMO to different states. YK Jethwa, ADG (law and order) has been made the nodal officer for coordinating the smooth and rapid movement of medical oxygen to the needy states.

Briefing the mediapersons, Jethwa said, "A dedicated corridor and a special cell have been established on the advice of the chief minister for the supply of medical oxygen from the state. Our objective is there should be no delay in loading, movement and transportation of the medical oxygen. The Odisha Police has escorted 90 tankers carrying about 1,676 MT of medical oxygen in the last five days. These tankers have been sent to Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh." "324 MT of medical oxygen has been transported to Telangana and 644 MT has been sent to Andhra Pradesh. 187 MT of medical oxygen has been despatched to Haryana, 112 MT to Maharashtra, 216 MT to Madhya Pradesh and 114 MT of medical oxygen has been sent to Uttar Pradesh. About 61 MT of medical oxygen has been sent to Chattisgarh and 16 MT of medical oxygen has been despatched to Tamil Nadu today," he added.

"A dedicated corridor has been set up with round-the-clock monitoring. District SSP/DCP and Range DIG/IG/CP are supervising the movement personally within their jurisdictions," added Jethwa. Odisha's Industry Secretary Hemant Sharma on Sunday told ANI that the total production capacity of LMO in the state has now been enhanced to 350 tonnes per day through five plants across states.

"Last week our capacity was 300 tonnes per day. Now it has gone up to 350 tonnes. We will increase it by 15 tonnes more by tomorrow evening," Sharma had said. The state government is in continuous touch with industries to ramp up the oxygen production in Odisha.

The Odisha government is trying to start oxygen production in two more plants -- Adhunik's plant in Sundargarh and a central government plant in Kalingnagar. Odisha health department on Monday informed that 6,599 new COVID-19 cases, 3,464 recoveries and nine deaths were reported in the state in the last 24 hours. (ANI)

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