Maha's O2 Team backbone of uninterrupted supply in state

Shortly after the midnight of Wednesday last week, Maharashtra grappled with an alarming reality: 50 metric tonne of oxygen it had been receiving from a plant in Bellary was no longer going to be available.

- Priyanka Kakodkar

Yet, in a few hours, a crisis was averted. By dawn, supplies were arranged from Gujarat’s Jamnagar and Dolvi and Murbad in the state. As a result, western Maharashtra, which is seeing a spike in cases, was spared an oxygen shortage.

In a state which has consistently reported the highest cases in the country, uninterrupted oxygen supply both to cities and remote districts has drawn acclaim. Especially, since the bulk of oxygen in the state is manufactured by private companies with plants in just a few locations. While 1,250 metric tonne is produced locally, 500 metric tonne has to be sourced from outside the state, including Jamnagar in Gujarat, Bhilai in Chhattisgarh and Angul in Odisha.