‘OXYGEN LANGAR’ AT BOTANICAL GARDEN METRO PARKING LOT WRAPPED UP

After nearly three weeks since it started, the drivethrough ‘oxygen langar’ service at Botanical Garden Metro Station parking lot in Sector 38 has been wrapped up as not a single patient turned up there in the past couple of days.

The free oxygen service was started on May 5 by the management of Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Khalsa Aid International, an NGO, and the district administration.

When it started, at least 20 Covid patients with dangerously fluctuating oxygen levels were being given relief with the help of oxygen concentrators per day. At least 10 beds were set up in the parking lot.

However, 20 days on, the number of patients seeking oxygen at the site has significantly reduced. “Since May 21, we haven’t got a single patient at the oxygen langar. Hence, on Monday, we decided to wrap up the arrangements,” said Lt. Colonel (retired) Surjeet Singh, who is part of the initiative.

However, Singh said that the service has been shifted from the Metro parking lot to the gurudwara in Sector 18. “We have put four beds at the gurudwara’s dispensary in case patients need the oxygen langar service,” he said.

He said that we will continue to provide oxygen cylinders to be taken home to those who need it, at a refundable security deposit of ₹8,000. “In case a person cannot afford the deposit, our team will go to their residence to verify the authenticity of the case and then lend the cylinder.”

Meanwhile, in Ghaziabad too, the takers for oxygen langar service have reduced. The Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara in Indirapuram, along with NGO Khalsa Help International, had started providing a oxygen langar service to patients from April 23. However, the set up has been removed. “Since last week, the number of patients reduced to about 100 a day. Hence, we have now restricted the service only to the Hapur Morh Gurudwara where patients are availing oxygen langar service,” said Gurpreet Singh, founder of Khalsa Help International.