Vijayawada: The AP Government made discussions with the Eastern Naval Command and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), to strengthen oxygen supply network.

AP Principal Secretary (Transport) MT Krishna Babu held talks on Saturday with the ENC and RINL to overcome the shortage of oxygen, as per the directions of AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Indian Navy has agreed to transport 25 cryogenic tankers of liquid oxygen from Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia to AP.

AP Principal Secretary for Health Anil Kumar Singhal said now with Navy chipping in, the oxygen supply chain to hospitals would be further strengthened. Speaking with the media persons he disclosed that our efforts to get more oxygen allocated to AP have yielded results as the Centre has increased oxygen allocation to the State to 590 MT.

However, it is not adequate. Hence, we are continuing our efforts to get more oxygen from the Centre, he said. We have also urged the Centre to allocate oxygen from plants near to AP like Bellary in Karnataka and Chennai in TN, he added.