Bhubaneswar April 23 : Amid reports of shortage of medical oxygen in different parts of the country, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday extended all support to the Centre in fighting the pandemic at the national level including ramping up of oxygen production to assist the needy states.
The Chief Minister made this offer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi while discussing the Covid-19 situation over telephone. “It is a war-like situation and Odisha will extend all cooperation in the fight against Covid at the national level including ramping up oxygen production to assist other states in this emergency,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister’s gesture has been praised by his counterparts of Delhi and Maharashtra. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised Patnaik for assuring supply of medical oxygen and entrusting a special officer to the task. “Received a call from Sh Naveen Patnaik ji. He has assured complete support to Delhi in facilitating lifting of Delhi’s quota of oxygen from Odisha. He has put a special officer on the job. Thank you so much Sir. Delhi is indeed grateful,” Kejriwal tweeted.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also spoke to Naveen and thanked him for the steps taken for arranging logistics for oxygen transport to Maharashtra.Police have made special arrangements to ensure uninterrupted and fast movement of medical oxygen from Odisha to other states.
Additional DGP (law and order) is coordinating the issue and the SPs are making special traffic arrangements including police escort and dedicated corridors to ensure swift movement of medical oxygen from the State.
Official sources said Odisha has around 70 industries producing industrial oxygen. Rourkela Steel Plant, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) at Angul and IFFCO Ltd in Paradip are among the major producers.
The government is encouraging these industries to produce medical oxygen to maintain supply here and also provide them to other needy states.