Highway toll charges for tankers transporting liquid medical oxygen waived off
PremiumThis comes in the backdrop of an acute oxygen availability crisis in the country amid a surge in covid infections, with hospital beds and medicines running out
New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has waived off the toll charges for tankers and containers transporting liquid medical oxygen.
India has a 137,635 km of national highway network. This comes in the backdrop of an acute oxygen availability crisis in the country amid a surge in covid infections, with hospital beds and medicines running out. The situation is alarming with the reported deaths of critically ill covid-19 patients due to low oxygen.
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1 min read . 07:59 PM IST“To provide uninterrupted passage of tankers and containers carrying Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) across national highways, the user fee for such vehicles at Toll Plazas has been exempted. Keeping in view the current unprecedented demand of the medical oxygen across the country due to COVID-19 pandemic, containers carrying Liquid Medical Oxygen will be treated at par with other emergency vehicles such as ambulances for a period of two months or till further orders," NHAI said in statement.
India’ domestic liquid medical oxygen production has been ramped up to 9400 MT per day. The union government on its part has been trying to find solutions with plans of setting up temporary hospitals having oxygenated beds near those industries that produce gaseous oxygen and repurposing existing nitrogen plants to produce oxygen. Also, around 1,500 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants are also being set up through contributions from the PM Cares Fund and state-run firms, among others.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 has created huge demand of Liquid Medical Oxygen across the country. In the current medical crisis, the timely delivery of Liquid Medical Oxygen to hospitals and medical centers is of paramount importance to save lives of patients critically affected by COVID-19. Exemption of payment of user fee at the toll plazas will ensure faster movement of Medical Oxygen on the National Highways," the statement added.
Also, refineries are supplying oxygen and procuring cryogenic containers for transporting liquid medical oxygen. India has an installed refining capacity of 249.36 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 23 refineries.
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