The Delhi Government on Friday ordered to procure 15Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) tankers. These oxygen tankers would have a capacity of 10 tonnes, 15 tonnes and 20 tonnes with a total strength of 225 MT.
The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) in its Board Resolution, chaired by Chairman of DTC Board and Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.
It is pertinent to mention here that in a high-level meeting on Thursday on the issue of emergence of new variants of Covid -19 and latest orders of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) order in light of Omicron, an emergency meeting of DTC board was called to focus on the need for a fallback procurement of LMO.
Delhi Transport Minister, Kailash Gahlot said, “The oxygen supply chain management had undergone severe pressure due to an exponential rise in demand for LMO during the second wave. In order to avoid a situation in case an unfortunate third wave occurs, we have prepared an exhaustive management plan for ensuring that no Delhiite suffers from lack of Oxygen. During the last wave too, DTC control room was converted into an Oxygen War room, and the Delhi Government and DTC is on a war footing to ensure that any eventuality is dealt with, in case any need arises.”
Manpower for the operation of these tankers would be recruited by DTC and each tanker would be manned by one driver and one helper in each shift of 8 hours each,” a government official said.
During the second wave of COVID- 19, the Delhi Government had decided that a dedicated fleet of LMO tankers will be procured and DTC was given responsibility by the Delhi Government to procure LMO tankers for the Health Department.
The procurement of these tankers would be done to create an emergency reservoir pool of tankers to tide over any emergent requirement of liquid oxygen procurement from suppliers outside Delhi and to serve the purpose of intra-city distribution.