In many districts of Vidarbha including Nagpur, a large number of COVID-19 patients need oxygen and the administration has now decided to import oxygen from Odisha. For this, four empty oxygen tankers were airlifted by a special aircraft of Indian Air Force from Nagpur on Wednesday. The tankers are expected to return to Nagpur by train in the next 20 hours. As per information given by District Collector Ravindra Thakre, 110 metric tonnes of oxygen is being supplied to Nagpur from Bhilai on a regular basis and the supply will continue.

 

However, in view of the increasing demand, Nagpur will get an additional 110 metric tonnes of oxygen in the next twenty to twenty-five hours from the steel plant at Angul near Bhubaneswar. Nagpur received 93 metric tonnes of oxygen on May 1, 220 metric tonnes on May 2, 111 metric tonnes on May 3, 60 metric tonnes on May 4 and 118 metric tonnes on May 5. The government needs a large amount of funds to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. A large amount of funds is being raised at the local level for this purpose and all the business entrepreneurs in Nagpur district have been asked for a social responsibility fund.

 

A letter signed by the Collector has been sent to all the entrepreneurs. In this emergency situation, large quantities of oxygen, medicine and other basic necessities have to be procured. As the number of patients continues to grow, these essential facilities will be needed in the near future. Therefore, it has been appealed that professional organisations should generously help the district administration, the letter states.