Telangana govt uses army aircraft to airlift oxygen tankers to Odisha

Hyderabad: For the first time in the country, the Telangana government used cargo air transport to get the empty oxygen trucks to Odisha, to ensure there is no lack of oxygen availability to COVID-19 patients in the state.
The empty oxygen tankers were flown to Odisha in an army aircraft, to be filled with oxygen at the Tata steel plant in Kalinganagar and brought back for usage in hospitals.
As per the directions of CM Sri KCR, State Govt. has airlifted eight oxygen tankers to the liquid oxygen plants in Odisha State in Defence aircrafts. This is the first instance of using aircrafts for bringing oxygen and will reduce procurement time by three days. pic.twitter.com/jrlUV6qnRC — Office of Chief Secretary, Telangana Govt. (@TelanganaCS) April 23, 2021 Officials say it to be a unique approach as it saves three days of transportation time and brings back oxygen faster which saves many valuable lives.   State health minister Eatala Rajender, chief secretary Somesh Kumar and other officers oversaw the loading of empty oxygen trucks into an army cargo aircraft at old Begumpet airport.
IT minister, KTR tweeted congratulations to the officials’ effort with the government.  My compliments to both Health Minister @Eatala_Rajender Garu & @TelanganaCS Somesh Kumar Garu who are supervising Oxygen tankers airlifting from Hyderabad to Orissa to bring back oxygen faster to Telangana – saving 3 days & many valuable lives. First time in India #NeedOfTheHour pic.twitter.com/gAIjpeAOas — KTR (@KTRBRS) April 23, 2021 Where there is a will there is always a way. For the first time in #India , #Oxygentanker s were airlifted from #Hyderabad to #Orissa to bring #Oxygen faster. This saves 3days, thus saving many precious lives. Kudos to all involved in the effort. #Telangana #COVIDEmergency2021 pic.twitter.com/WJLs1xqYHG — P Pavan (@PavanJourno) April 23, 2021 Earlier on Thursday, Eatala Rajendar said that the Centre is also discriminating in the allocation of oxygen, which is under its purview. The health minister pointed out that instead of allocating oxygen from nearby steel plants such as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and Ballari Steel Plant, the Centre allocated Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha to Telangana.