New Delhi: Amid several states flagging scarcity of medical oxygen in the COVID-19 fight, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Railways and Air Force are being deployed to reduce the transportation time for oxygen tankers and asked states to take stringent measures against hoarding and black marketing of essential medicines and injections. He also called for making people continuously aware so that they do not indulge in panic buying.
Chairing a high-level meeting with chief ministers of 11 states and union territories with maximum COVID-19 cases, Modi urged states to work as one and coordinate with one another to fulfil medical requirements, asserting that "if we work as one nation, there will not be any scarcity of resources". Modi said every state should ensure that no oxygen tanker, irrespective of its destination, is stopped or gets stranded, a statement said.
The prime minister's call for coordination and working together to meet the spiralling health crisis comes amid multiple reports of medical oxygen supply being stopped at borders of one state or the other during transit. Modi noted that the Railways and Air Force have been deployed to reduce the travel time of oxygen tankers and assured states of the Centre's full support in the fight against the pandemic.
It was the prime minister's third meeting with chief ministers in the last five weeks, while he also held his fourth review meeting in one week to review the oxygen availability situation, officials said.
Later, at a virtual meeting with leading oxygen manufacturers, Prime Minister Modi called for utilising the industry's full potential to meet the demand of medical oxygen in the coming days, saying there is a need to increase the availability of oxygen cylinders as well as to upgrade logistical facilities for its transportation.
In his interaction with the oxygen manufacturers, including Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Modi urged the industry to utilise tankers meant to transport other gases for oxygen supply, saying the time now is not only to deal with the challenges but also to provide solutions in a very short time.
With some opposition-ruled states criticizing the Centre's recently announced vaccination policy as discriminatory against states, Modi said that the Union government has already provided them more than 15 crore doses free of cost.
In his meeting with the CMs, Modi said that along with upgrading of resources, states have to focus on testing for the infection. He stressed that widespread testing should be conducted so that people get the facility easily.
Modi also said that the ongoing vaccination programme should not slow down, noting that more than 13 crore vaccine doses have been provided free of cost to the states by his government so far.
The campaign launched by the central government to provide free vaccine to all citizens above 45 years as well as health care and front line workers will also continue, he said.
Noting that the vaccine will be available to all citizens above 18 years of age from May 1, he said they all need to work in mission mode to get more and more people vaccinated.
During the interaction, chief ministers of states, which included Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, briefed Modi about the steps being taken by them in the current wave.