CM Naveen Patnaik dials PM, offers help in Covid-19 fight

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha on Thursday created a special cell, coordinated by a senior IPS officer, for the seamless supply of oxygen to the needy states. The move followed after chief minister Naveen Patnaik spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over telephone assuring them of all possible help to tide over the crisis.
A statement issued by the chief minister’s office said Naveen discussed the current Covid-19 situation in the country with the PM. Naveen said it is a war-like situation and Odisha will extend its cooperation in the fight against Covid at the national-level, including ramping up oxygen production to assist other states in this emergency situation, the statement further said.
A relieved Kejriwal took to Twitter to share the news of the telephone call from Naveen. He has assured complete support to Delhi in facilitating the lifting of Delhi’s quota of oxygen from Orissa, part of the Delhi CM’s tweet read. He also mentioned that Odisha has put a special officer on the job.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray also spoke to Naveen and thanked Odisha’s initiative, the CMO said.
Following the CM’s discussions with the PM and Kejriwal, the Odisha Police made special arrangements to ensure the uninterrupted and fast movement of medical oxygen from Odisha to states in need of it. Additional DG (law and order) Yeshwant Jethwa has been made the nodal officer of the special cell for coordinated action in the loading and transportation of medical oxygen to states such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, among others, which are facing a deficit.
State police to escort oxygen carrying vans
DGP Abhay said, “Police escorts will be provided to the vans carrying oxygen so that their movement is faster and uninterrupted. A dedicated green corridor will be created wherever necessary. There will be interstate coordination for smooth movement.”
A police statement said the SPs and DIGs will personally supervise the movements within their jurisdictions.
Later on Thursday night, vehicles carrying oxygen were scheduled to leave for Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. A consignment of 20 tonnes of oxygen is scheduled to leave from Angul for Visakhapatnam under police escort at 1 am, the police said. Government sources said according to the allocation made by the Centre on Wednesday, Delhi will get 70MT liquid medical oxygen (LMO) from Odisha per day. The Steel Authority of India’s Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) will provide 40MT a day and the Tata Steel Plant in Kalinga Nagar will provide another 30MT per day to Delhi. Similarly, quotas have been fixed for various other states. Currently, Odisha is using around 24MT oxygen per day for around 500 patients, who are in the ICU. The production capacity of various plants in the state is more than 500MT per day, including 129.68MT through cylinders and 375MT through LMO, far more than the state’s requirement.
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