In a span of four days, three Oxygen Express trains left Bokaro for Lucknow, including one with five tankers of oxygen on Monday morning.

A total of 171 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen has been supplied from Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) to Uttar Pradesh.

At present, the Yogi Adityanath government is working to airdrop oxygen cylinders and tankers to fetch oxygen from Bokaro, said Manikant Dhan, chief of communication, BSL.

Meanwhile, the Haryana government has also started the process of bringing liquid medical oxygen from the BSL.

On Sunday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that his government has placed an order for 6,000 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen from the BSL. And soon, oxygen will be brought from Bokaro to Haryana by a special train.

BSL, a unit of SAIL, is producing 150 tonnes of liquid oxygen per day. Inox Air Product Private Limited is engaged round the clock generating oxygen for BSL steel-making process, which the steel major is diverting for saving lives of Covid patients across the country. In the month of April, BSL alone supplied more than 800 tonnes of liquid oxygen to Ranchi, Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh by road transport.

In the past 26 days, 401 tonnes of liquid oxygen was sent to UP including 230 tonnes through the road route, said Dhan. The first oxygen special train carried 50 tonnes of liquid oxygen in three tankers, the second which left on Sunday had 50 tonnes in four tankers and the third one with 77 tonnes of oxygen.

In addition to BSL’s efforts, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Oil Corporation have jointly taken initiatives to meet the need for an empty medical oxygen tanker.

The Air Force is trying to bring an empty tanker from Baroda and an empty tanker from Pune to Bokaro for filling liquid medical oxygen from the BSL. After filling the liquid medical oxygen, the tanker will be dispatched to its destination by road or rail, said BSL sources.

Around 39,647 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen has been supplied so far from SAIL plants across the country.