Pyare Khan entrusted with task of bringing 200MT oxygen per day to city

Nagpur: After helping the district administration transport 400MT of oxygen to the city’s government hospitals by spending Rs85 lakh from his own pocket, transporter Pyare Khan has been entrusted with the responsibility of bringing all the supply of gas from various locations to the city till the Covid-19 crisis ends.
The decision was taken during a review meeting of coronavirus crisis in the city by Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday. Gadkari he assured to procure 200MT of oxygen purely for the district, even as the requirement is 166MT. The meeting was attended by divisional commissioner Sanjeev Kumar, collector Ravindra Thakare, NMC commissioner B Radhakrishnan and Khan, who represented the city transporters’ association. Guardian minister Nitin Raut virtually joined the meeting.
Khan will now look after the entire plan to bring oxygen from various places, provide drivers for tankers, and take care of their maintenance and repairs. “The entire transportation would be looked after by me and my team of 10-12 persons and not by the administration. We have a total of 13 vehicles to bring gas from Raipur, Vishakhapatnam, Bellari, and Rourkela, besides Bhilai plant. Of them, I’ve rented seven to eight vehicles and also paid nearly Rs1 crore rent to their owners. The rest of the amount would be paid by the collector,” the orange seller turned crorepati businessman told TOI. He added that he wouldn’t be charging anything for his services.
The ministers also discussed plans for supply of Remdesivir and oxygen, purchasing more cylinders and other requirements. Kumar was directed to coordinate Remdesivir distribution and supply.
The administrative officials informed that currently 140MT oxygen was coming from Bhilai, besides the quota produced by local companies. According to them, if 200MT was made available, the increased demand from private hospitals could be met. Raut directed them to clear payments to the transporters immediately on delivery.
Gadkari said all these temporary measures could be a part of short-term solution, but they need to think about long-term solution to take care of future requirements. While assuring all technical support to the administration for setting up oxygen plants in the city, he said it would be handy in the long term.
Wardha plant’s Remdesivir to be available from May 10
Gadkari said the first stock of 30,000 Remdesivir vials to be produced by Wardha-based Genetek Life Sciences would be available from May 10. “The divisional commissioners of Nagpur and Amravati would coordinate and equally distribute this stock in all Vidarbha districts. After meeting the region’s requirements, it would be made available to the rest of Maharashtra.”
He also directed the administration to erect a dome at GMCH and IGGMCH for waiting patients and their relatives. He held talks with companies like Jubilee, Amogha Oxy and Aasi, that produce oxygen from air. He also suggested exploring use of high capacity aluminium cylinders used in China.