Udaipur : A day after the Indian Air Force (IAF) airlifted empty oxygen tanker to Jamnagar in Gujarat, the refilled container returned Udaipur by road on Monday evening with 20KL of liquid oxygen. The stock is enough to refill 2200 oxygen cylinders that would be despatched to the government and private hospitals treating critical COVID patients gasping for breath. The district administration officials were busy till late night, coordinating with the airforce authorities for the second airlift of empty containers which has been scheduled for Tuesday.
“The tanker which was airlifted on Sunday by Gajraj, the IAF plane returned to Udaipur on Monday evening. This arrangement would save 18 to 20 hours time in oxygen supply to hospitals. The two way road journey from Udaipur to Jamnagar plant, oxygen refill and unload time would in all take 44 hours in the normal course but through airlifting the empty containers, we are saving at least half the time” Collector ChetanRam Deora told .
The officer said presently, the daily oxygen requirement is around 4700 cylinders and we are sourcing it through various supplies including corporate and industrial units. Meanwhile on Monday, Udaipur Marble Processors Samiti collected all the oxygen cylinders from various processing units and handed it to the administration for medical usage.
Samiti president Banna Ram Chaudhary said oxygen is very essential for marble processing units however, looking at the present crucial time, saving human lives is more important. The association also offered its office building to be converted into COVID dedicated center for patients.