Oxygen Express brings tanker of hope to Varanasi

VARANASI : The Lucknowbound Oxygen Express from Bokaro arrived at the Varanasi Cantt railway station early on Saturday with three oxygen tankers containing liquid medical oxygen, railway officials said.

One of the three oxygen tankers was unloaded through ramp at warehouse of the Cantt station, railway officials said. Thereafter, it was sent to an oxygen plant in the Ramnagar industrial area under tight security. The other two tankers continued the journey to Lucknow on the special train.

Confirming the development, additional divisional railway manager (ADRM) Raviprakash Chaturvedi said a green corridor was created for the train which started from Bokaro and reached Varanasi non-stop.

Varanasi commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh inspected the ramp on Friday, hours before the arrival of the train. He instructed the officials to escort the oxygen tanker to the oxygen plant in Ramnagar.

Earlier, an oxygen tanker from Bokaro in Jharkhand reached the oxygen plant in Chandauli district’s Ramnagar industrial area in eastern Uttar Pradesh by road around 3am on Friday, covering the distance in “12 hours” instead of the usual 14 hours as a green corridor was created, officials said.

At present, Varanasi needs around 6,000 oxygen cylinders daily. Against its daily need, around 3,400 to 3,800 cylinders are being supplied to different hospitals in the district every day.

AT PRESENT, VARANASI NEEDS AROUND 6,000 OXYGEN CYLINDERS DAILY