Amid the continued crisis in the supply of ‘Liquid Medical Oxygen' (LMO) in the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)  reassured the nation that there was sufficient stock of oxygen in India and the only concern there has been that of transporting the life-saving commodity from the producing states to high-demand areas in this crisis period.

 Additional Secretary  Piyush Goyal also said the turnaround time of oxygen-carrying tankers was reduced to 1-2 hours from 4-5 days by taking the help of the Indian Air Force transport aircraft which have been ferrying empty tankers from the nook and corner of the country to the oxygen production plants, IBNS said. 

“We have enough stock of oxygen, the issue was of transportation which we are trying to resolve by active involvement of all stakeholders,” Goyal said.

Amidst the increasing demand for oxygen in the country due to the alarming surge of COVID-19 positive cases, he further said “There is absolutely no need to panic for oxygen as we are trying to resolve the issue of transportation from the producing states to high demand areas.”

Since April 23, the Union Home Ministry has been coordinating efforts to deploy empty oxygen tankers and containers in various filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of the much-needed medical oxygen in treating COVID-19 patients.

The situation in the country amid the second spell of Coronavirus infections continues to be grim with 352,991 people testing positive and a record 2,812 deaths reported on Monday.