Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday (May 23) formally received the Oxygen Express, carrying 4 containers of total 80 metric tonnes (MT) of medical oxygen at Inland Container Depot at Amingaon in Guwahati.
The Oxygen Express, which started from Jharkhand, reached the state on Sunday.
Talking to reporters, CM Sarma expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allocating additional medical oxygen to the State through Oxygen Express which would greatly help in meeting the increasing oxygen requirement in the state, primarily for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Oxygen is the most potent weapon to fight COVID pandemic.
HCM Sri @himantabiswa received #OxygenExpress at Amingaon with 80 MT LMO. The Green Corridor fast-track modality is a boon for Assam & NE.
Grateful to Hon PM Shri @narendramodi and GoI for this help to Assam. pic.twitter.com/i4WVwTLbCc— Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) May 23, 2021
He also thanked Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for taking steps to bring the train.
The chief minister also informed that from now onwards, Oxygen Express would come twice per week to Assam delivering total 160 MT of oxygen to the State every week.
“Apart from fulfilling State’s own requirement, Assam would supply surplus Oxygen to neighbouring NE states of Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura,” Sarma said.
ক'ভিডৰ এই সংকটকালত জীৱন ৰক্ষাৰ বাবে অক্সিজেন হৈছে আটাইতকৈ শক্তিশালী অস্ত্ৰ। মুখ্যমন্ত্ৰী @himantabiswaই আজি আমিনগাঁৱত #OxygenExpressক আদৰণি জনায়। গ্ৰীণ কৰিডৰ ফাষ্ট-ট্ৰেক অসম আৰু উত্তৰ-পূবৰ বাবে এক আশীৰ্বাদ।
এই সহায়ৰ বাবে প্ৰধানমন্ত্ৰী @narendramodi আৰু ভাৰত চৰকাৰৰ ওচৰত কৃতজ্ঞ। pic.twitter.com/mvM5xuWO0d— Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) May 23, 2021
He said that the state has medical oxygen storage capacity up to 800 litres.
Speaking about the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state, the Chief Minister informed that the State Government is making efforts to ramp up daily vaccination from present 50 thousand people to 1 lakh.
Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Samir Kumar Sinha and other officials of NF Railway, Container Corporation of India Ltd. etc were also present at the programme.
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