AP State procuring more oxygen in view of Cyclone Yaas threat

Vijayawada: In view of the impending threat of Cyclone Yaas which is likely to hit the east coast soon, the State government at the behest of the Central government took precautions to procure more liquid medical oxygen (LMO) and other necessary infrastructure, said principal secretary of Transport and R&B, who is also heading the Oxygen War Room MT Krishna Babu.

He said in a statement here on Sunday that the oxygen supplies from Odisha had increased in the last two days using Oxygen Express trains in order to maintain buffer stocks. Almost 100 MT of LMO has been sourced from Rourkela and 100 MT more is expected by Monday from Odisha.

Apart from this, the government has ensured that the regular supply of almost 200 MT using road transport tankers from Angul, Kalinganagar and Rourkela is not interrupted due to cyclone Yaas.

The International Committee of the Red Cross through Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) handed over 120 MT of LMO through six cryogenic tankers of 20 MT each at Visakhapatnam Port on Sunday. This 120 MT shall be placed in Guntur and Tirupati as a buffer stock in case of emergency.

It may be recalled that Reliance Industries Limited supplied more than 200MT of LMO on three Oxygen Express trains on May 16th, 19th, and 22nd, 23rd.

The principal secretary said that the Energy department was alerted to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the three important LMO sources—two at Visakhapatnam and one in Srikakulam—which account for 210 MT of oxygen.

He said that apart from these, uninterrupted power supply would be supplied to 49 re-fillers all over the State.

The district collectors were also instructed to ensure uninterrupted power supply to all hospitals.