Maharashtra, which is the worst state affected by COVID-19 is facing shortage of Remedesivir injection, lack of oxygen, beds, corona vaccine. Due to the shortage of medicines and oxygen the politic over the hortage ha heated up in the state.
The central and state governments blaming each other. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday that Maharashtra, which is the worst state affected by COVID-19, will get the biggest share of 1,500 metric tonnes of oxygen after mapping done by the Centre and a green corridor is being created for fast movement of 'Oxygen Express Trains' to facilitate the smooth transport of oxygen to states.
However, it has been revealed that the state government is not getting drivers to bring oxygen. Against this backdrop, ST drivers will now bring oxygen tankers, Transport Minister Anil Parab said.
Anil Parab informed about this in a press conference. The state needs oxygen, a green corridor will be set up to deliver it. This will allow the oxygen tankers to reach their destination quickly without any hindrance. Under no circumstances the transport of oxygen tankers will be hampered, said Anil Parab.The state is facing oxygen shortage. Therefore, oxygen is being supplied by the Ministry of Railways. The transport department is coordinating for this. The tanker drivers have left the state due to the lockdown. This has created a shortage of drivers. Therefore, we will make available the drivers of the transport department to bring oxygen tankers, informed Anil Parab.
A meeting was held between Railway Board officials and State Transport Commissioners along with representatives of industry on the "issues related to transportation of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO)" on Saturday.
As per a release by the Ministry of Railways, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments had approached the Ministry of Railways to explore whether LMO tankers could be moved by the railways. "Thereafter, LMO's technical feasibility of transportation was explored and it was concluded that it has to be transported through Roll On Roll Off (RO-RO) service with road tankers placed on flat wagons," it said.