West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him issue instructions to increase the supply of medical oxygen in the state. She said as the Covid-19 cases continue to surge in Bengal, the state’s oxygen requirement is shooting up and at such a time the Centre has hiked oxygen allocation for other states.
The Bengal CM has informed PM Modi that the consumption of medical oxygen in the state has gone up from 470 MT to 550 MT per day over the past one week. She also added that the Bengal government has already taken up the matter with the Centre that the state requires 550 MT of medical oxygen daily.
However, instead of allotting the same as per the requirement of West Bengal, government of India has increased allocation of medical oxygen to other states from the total production in West Bengal, during the last 10 days, from 230 MT to 360 MT, keeping the allocation for West Bengal constant at 308 MT per day, despite its requirement of 550 MT per day, said Mamata Banerjee in her letter addressed to PM Modi.
Banerjee also said any allocation of medical oxygen less than the requested amount, will not only adversely affect the supply of medical oxygen but may also result in loss of lives of patients in the state, the West Bengal Chief Minister stated in her letter.
The Bengal CM has on Thursday questioned the centre on free vaccine saying she has not received any reply from PM Modi over the issue of free vaccination. Why are they not allotting Rs 30,000 crores for vaccines when they are making new Parliament and statues, spending Rs 20,000 crores.
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West Bengal’s Covid-19 death tally rose to 11,964 on Thursday after reporting117 deaths, the highest so far in a single day while it also recorded the highest spike of 18,431 fresh cases. The state’s active caseload stands at 1,22,774.