Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren wrote to his Gujarat counterpart, Vijay Rupani, on Monday, requesting him to work in tandem with other states and ensure timely delivery of medical essentials that had been ordered earlier but were held up in Gujarat.

“My state of Jharkhand is a surplus manufacturer of oxygen, the most lifesaving element in Covid treatment. Unfortunately, we are struggling with bottlenecks in our supply chain due to paucity of oxygen cylinders and the capacity of refillers. I have been informed that many of our orders of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) tankers, vapourisers and cylinders are pending with manufacturers in Gujarat.

“I seek your assistance in getting the concerned manufacturers to expedite the delivery of the aforementioned orders. This would allow us to make oxygen available to hospitals and subsequently to the people who are desperately in need of it,” he wrote, adding that in this hour of crisis, it woul dbe good if they could all work together.

Hemant's letter was prompted by concerns shared by at least two of Ranchi's oxygen refilling plants which he had visited on Sunday. He told the media after his visit that the government had asked all oxygen plants to ramp up capacities and be ready to address the needs of hospitals 24x7.

An official of the state task force for oxygen here said that Gujarat happens to be the manufacturing hub of all logistics and equipments related to oxygen. “Even during the recent review meeting, we had come across issues of tankers, vapourisers and other equipment not being supplied regularly or getting stuck in Gujarat. Hence, the state government decided to formally take up the matter with the Gujarat government as we are in the process of increasing oxygen supported beds daily in the wake of the rising Covid cases," the official said.