PunjabChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday sought the immediateintervention of both, the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister, to ensureuninterrupted supply of medical oxygen to the state, along with additionalallocation of 50 MT LMO from a nearby source and 20 additional tankers(preferably conducive to rail travel) for timely evacuation of LMO from Bokaro.
TheChief Minister sent out separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah, as the number of Covid patients on varying levels ofoxygen support in the state went up to 10000.
Expressingdeep concern over the imminent loss of lives due to oxygen shortage across thestate, the Chief Minister said with mounting caseload, he was unable to increaseLevel 2 and Level 3 beds due to oxygen availability constraints.
Thestate was facing the prospect of shortage of oxygen beds, he said, pointing outthat the Government of India had expressed its inability to even allow Punjab’slocal industry to undertake commercial import of LMO from Pakistan through theWagah-Attari border, which is geographically proximate.
Further,despite assurance that “adequate supply would be ensured to us from alternatesources< I regret to point out that this has not happened", saidCaptain Amarinder.
Thetotal allocation of LMO from outside the state is currently 195 MT, of which 90MT is from Bokaro in eastern India. The balance 105 MT comes from LMOfacilities in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. However, Punjab is notgetting its daily allocated quota, said the Chief Minister. The existingbacklog for Punjab from these LMO facilities is 5.6 MT from Panipat (Haryana),100 MT from Sela Qui, Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and 10 MT from Roorkee, he added.
Pointingout that Punjab had now been given to understand by the Centre that there wouldbe likely disruption of LMO supply from today from Panipat and Barotiwala, theChief Minister said this would cause great stress on the already limited oxygenavailability in the state, thus causing a medical emergency, including risk ofloss of life for the large number of patients who are in critical condition andon regular oxygen support.
Thedisruption should be avoided, he said, adding that, if necessary, the statemust be compensated immediately from a nearby additional source.
Referringto the shortage of tankers, the Chief Minister said the state was airliftingtwo empty tankers daily to Ranchi, with the filled tankers returning by roadfrom Bokaro on a 48-50 hours journey.
TheChief Minister said that the state government had already requested the GoI toallocate 20 additional tankers (conducive to rail travel) to allow for regularevacuation of 90 MT LMO from Bokaro on a daily basis, but had been told thatonly two would be provided, and even those were yet to come.
Heurged the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to step in immediately to helpresolve the major crisis.