The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, MAY 31, 2021
In a move to provide Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) during the Covid-19 pandemic period to different States those having insufficient Oxygen, Indian Railways is running Oxygen Express Special Trains to and from different parts of the country.
During this COVID-19 upsurge, East Coast Railway (ECoR) has taken up the lead role in transporting LMO in a major way for saving lives of patients. Till today, ECoR has carried 2600.02 tonnes of LMO from different Steel Plants under its jurisdiction towards different States.
The first rake of loaded LMO by Indian Railways was sent from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Visakhapatnam to Nagpur and Nasik. As many as 40 Oxygen Express Special Trains loaded with LMO in 162 containers were sent from ECoR jurisdiction towards different States of the country. Loaded LMO rakes form Durgapur, Tatanagar and Rourkela going towards Secunderabad, Chennai and Bangalore have also been passing through ECoR jurisdiction with top priority.
Almost half of the 40 Oxygen Express special trains from ECoR jurisdiction were received by Delhi and Haryana areas. About 1010.09 tonnes of LMO through 63 containers in 19 Oxygen Express Trains were transported to Delhi and Haryana. Oxygen Express Trains from ECoR jurisdiction were also been sent to Maharashtra, Telengana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. ECoR has carried 545.31 tonnes of LMO to Maharashtra, 117.9 tonnes to Kerala, 685.7 tonnes to Telengana, 120 tonnes to Tamil Nadu and 120.98 tonnes to Karnataka.
Steel Plants like Tata Steel BSL and Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) at Angul and Tata Steel Limited at Kalinga Nagar have contributed majorly in Oxygen loading from ECoR jurisdiction. Till now, 33 Oxygen Express Trains loaded with LMO, have been sent from Angul area, 6 from Kalinga Nagar area and 1 from Visakhapatnam area towards various States from ECoR jurisdiction for saving life of patients affected in Covid-19 infection.
East Coast Railway has taken all precautions for safe running of Oxygen Express Special Trains from its jurisdiction and sending these trains at the earliest. Apart from this, Oxygen Special Trains from other Steel Plants beyond ECoR jurisdiction have also been given priority as in “Green Corridor” for safe running and early movement to their destinations.
Meanwhile, a total of 1374 tankers/containers carrying 25282.943 MT medical oxygen have been dispatched under escort/supervision of Odisha Police so far from Rourkela, Jajpur, Dhenkanal and Angul districts of Odisha to 16 States/UTs in the country.
In the last 39 days, as many as 123 tankers were dispatched from Angul with 2007.422 MT, 310 from Dhenkanal with 5044.61 MT, 277 from Jajpur with 5681.155 MT and 664 from Rourkela with 12549.756 MT of Oxygen.
A total of 415 tankers with 8139.722 MT of oxygen have been sent so far to Andhra Pradesh, and 352 tankers with 6151.889 MT of oxygen to Telengana. Tamil Nadu has received 151 tankers filled with 2681.757 MT of medical oxygen. Similarly, Haryana has received 182 tankers filled with 3331.793 MT of oxygen. 41 tankers with 660.051 MT of oxygen have been sent so far to Maharashtra, while 629.321 MT of oxygen filled in 39 tankers have been dispatched to Chhattisgarh.
As many as 63 tankers have carried around 1241.232 MT of oxygen to Uttar Pradesh and 67 tankers with 1182.6 MT of oxygen have been sent to Madhya Pradesh till date. Twenty two tankers with 410.24 MT of oxygen have been sent so far to Delhi, 4 tankers with 107.89 MT to Punjab, 12 tankers with 235.19 MT to Karnataka, 3 tankers with 66.14 MT to Bihar, 2 tankers with 25.29 MT to Chandigarh, 18 tankers with 351.308 MT to Kerala, one tanker with 29.1 MT to West Bengal and 2 tankers with 39.42 MT of Oxygen have been sent to Rajasthan in the last 39 days.
A Special Cell is coordinating the loading and transportation of medical oxygen by Odisha to States facing deficit. A dedicated corridor has been set up with round the clock monitoring. District SsP/DCsP and Range DIG/IG/CP are supervising the movement personally within their jurisdictions, ECoR said in a statement today.
