As perIndian Express, the consumption of liquid oxygen across hospitals has dropped to around 8,000 MT a day from 8,900 a day. Despite that, the demand is much higher than what was recorded during the first wave of Covid-19.
As several parts of the country still face issues like shortage of vaccines and oxygen, the Indian corporate sector has been playing a critical role in helping the country overcome them. Airlines like SpiceJet,and conglomerates such as Tata and the Adani Group led by Gautam Adani, have pulled in all their might to support the nation’s COVID fightback. .
The GautamAdani-led Groupthat manages three Indian airports also relaxed basic parking fees. It exempted private vehiclescoming to pick up or drop passengers from parking fees for the first 10 minutes at all the airports operated by the group.”This is a small gesture to reduce the burden on our fellow citizens during the ongoing pandemic,” read a statement by the company.Currently, the Adani Group operates Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Mangaluru airports.
At the same time the group has been leveraging its diverse infra portfolio to secure oxygen supplies from around the world. “Our battle against the pandemic isn’t over. Be it air, sea, rail or road, we continue to partner to facilitate flow of liquid oxygen, cryogenic tanks, generator plants and medical cylinders all across the nation,” tweeted GautamAdani.
SpiceJet, the country’s second largest airline, recently used its B767 and A330 freighters to airlift over 3,100 oxygen concentrators from Beijing to New Delhi. Ever since the second wave of the pandemic resurfaced, it has airlifted almost 10,000 concentrators from various countries including the US, Hong Kong, and China.Ajay Singh, SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director, said that the company is still looking to transport about 20,000 oxygen concentrators from across the globe in the coming days.
On the other hand, Tata Group, which holds a51 per cent stake inVistara airlines, has been offering free domestic flights to doctors and nurses who represent government organisations. The move by the conglomerate is in its bid to help the government organisations and hospitals fulfil their urgent need of air logistics.However, the Tata-backed Vistara will be offering seats to the medical professionals only on a first-come-first-serve basis.
The country is going through an unprecedented situation. At times like these, something as trivial as a mere parking charge or airfare should not hamper critical and essential operations. Thus, regardless of how big or small, the noble gestures that companies like the Adani Group, Tata and SpiceJethave come up with, are quite commendable.
