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On Delhi's request for special Covid coaches, railway minister replies '800 beds ready'
Piyush Goyal's tweet came shortly after Delhi chief secretary Vijay Kumar Dev requested railway board chairman Suneet Sharma to arrange for Covid-19 bed facilities at Shakur Basti and Anand Vihar railway stations.
Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal assured support to the Delhi government on Sunday, saying that special Covid-19 care coaches will be made available at two railway stations for patients in the city. The minister responded within hours of the Delhi government’s request for the arrangement to accommodate patients amid a huge spike in cases of the coronavirus disease in the national capital.
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“Govt under PM @NarendraModi leading the fight against COVID-19: 50 COVID-19 isolation coaches with 800 beds ready at Shakur Basti Station & 25 coaches will be available at Anand Vihar Station in Delhi. Railways can setup >3 lakh isolation beds across the country on States' demand,” Piyush Goyal informed on Twitter.
Goyal's tweet came shortly after Delhi chief secretary Vijay Kumar Dev requested railway board chairman Suneet Sharma to arrange for Covid-19 bed facilities at Shakur Basti and Anand Vihar railway stations in the city like last year when the pandemic was peaking.
Delhi is currently witnessing the fourth wave of Covid-19 and nearly 25,000 new cases were reported on Sunday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, adding that the positivity rate has gone up to 30% from the 24% in the last 24 hours.
In the letter to the railway board chairman, Vijay Kumar Dev requested the bed facilities at the two stations along with full logistical support, requisite medical and para-medical staff and oxygen facilities etc. on an emergent basis. “We would be grateful if you identify more such facilities upto a level of 5000 beds, as was done last year, so as to meet the huge demand of beds arising out of an ever increasing surge in positive cases this time in NCT of Delhi,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the ministry of railways retweeted a post according to which as many as 4,002 coaches converted into Covid care coaches are available at present in railways’ 16 zones and can be made available for the state governments on request.
Last week, the railways’ western zone also received a similar demand for isolation coaches from Nandurbar, a Maharashtra district close to Gujarat border, for around 95 coaches and 1,500 beds.
The Covid-19 isolation coaches were designed to be used for patients with mild symptoms in areas where states have “exhausted the facilities”, according to the railways.
