Arshi, 26, has earned herself a new name in the pandemic: “cylinder waali bitiya” or the daughter with the oxygen cylinder.

What began as a struggle to procure the life-saving gas for her father, who has recovered from coronavirus disease, has turned into a mission to save the lives of others. Arshi has distributed around 20 oxygen cylinders for free.

On the first day of Ramazan, the condition of her father, Mashoor, began deteriorating. While in home isolation, the doctor asked Arshi to get an oxygen cylinder. “When I approached the authorities, I was told that patients in home isolation cannot get oxygen cylinders and was advised to get my father admitted to a hospital,” she said.

“I somehow managed to get one from the office of the city magistrate,” Arshi said. “I then came in contact with a social organisation based in Uttarakhand through WhatsApp which provided oxygen for my father and he recovered,” she said.

Ever since, she has been helping anyone reaching out for oxygen over phone or WhatsApp, she said.

The Shahjahanpur district president of the Samajwadi Party, Tanveer Khan, said: “Arshi is doing historic work.”

Resident Syed Naved said Arshi got him three oxygen cylinders for his father.