Oxygen express reaches Nashik; IAF ferries empty containers to Jamnagar
In a bid to meet the high demand of the critical gas meant for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, the Indian Railways has started “Oxygen Express” trains to ferry oxygen tankers from one region to another.
The first Oxygen Express carrying seven tankers filled with liquid medical oxygen from Visakhapatnam returned to Nashik on Saturday, five days after it started its journey. At the same time Indian Air Force in its run to fight against Covid-19, airlifted empty oxygen containers from Hindan air base for Pune airbase to filling stations.
In a bid to meet the high demand of the critical gas meant for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, the Indian Railways has started “Oxygen Express” trains to ferry oxygen tankers from one region to another.
“After unloading three tankers in Nagpur on Friday, the Oxygen Express tankers carrying four liquid medical oxygen was unloaded at Nashik on Saturday morning, to meet the increased requirement of oxygen for treating Covid-19 patients,” said a release issued by Press Information Bureau (PIB).
The four tankers arrived at Nashik carried 15 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen each in what is called as the “Ro-Ro Express” that brought the oxygen from Visakhapatnam.
State government authorities said while two tankers will be sent to Ahmednagar, two will be distributed in Nashik district itself.
At the same time, one C-17 of Indian Air Force was airborne from Hindan air base in Pune air base at 8am on Saturday. The aircraft loaded with empty container trucks for liquid medical oxygen and departed Pune to offload these containers at Jamnagar air base by afternoon.
According to Defence release, “The same C-17 aircraft is currently on its second shuttle from Pune to Jamnagar, with a load of two more empty containers.”
“We were previously getting 240 metric tonnes of oxygen from Jamnagar. With other states such as Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh also badly affected by Covid, the Centre has decided to bring down Maharashtra’s quota to 125 metric tonnes,” said deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Pune after reviewing the situation.
The containers will return to Maharashtra by road or train once they are loaded with medical oxygen which is in high demand due to the surge in Covid-19 cases.
According to Indian Air Force authorities, the IAF has also deployed its C-17 which was airborne from the Hindan air base for Changi International Airport, Singapore at 2 am.
“The aircraft arrived at Singapore at 7:45 am. After loading four containers of cryogenic oxygen tanks, it will depart Singapore and land at Panagarh air base in West Bengal and offload these containers by this evening,” stated PIB press release.
