New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: A day after the Odisha government, urged the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to waive toll on trucks carrying Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO), the latter Saturday announced exemption of charges on such tankers and containers at toll plazas across national highways.
Keeping in view the current unprecedented demand for LMO across the country due to Covid-19 pandemic, containers carrying the life-saving gas will be treated at par with other emergency vehicles such as ambulances for a period of two months or till further orders, the NHAI said in a statement.
“In order to provide uninterrupted passage for tankers and containers carrying Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) across national highways, the user fee for such vehicles at toll plazas has been exempted,” the highways authority said.
Although toll plazas have nearly zero waiting time after implementation of FASTag, the NHAI said it is already providing priority passage to such vehicles for quick and seamless transportation of medical oxygen.
“Instructions have also been issued by NHAI to all its officials and other stakeholders to assist the government and private efforts to fight the pandemic in helping them in pro-active manner,” it said.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has created huge demand for LMO across the country.
“During the ongoing crisis, the timely delivery of LMO to hospitals and medical centres is of paramount importance to save lives of patients critically affected by Covid-19,” the NHAI said adding, exemption of payment of user fee at toll plazas will ensure faster movement of medical oxygen on the national highways.
Notably, the state Works department additional secretary, Hemanta Kumar Dutta, had written a letter to the chief general manager (technical), NHAI, Odisha, in this regard Friday.
Dutta, in his letter, said, “Take necessary action for exemption of charges at the toll gates under NHAI in the state to facilitate smooth transportation of the vehicles carrying medical oxygen in tankers or cylinders to the treating hospitals/Covid Care Centres (CCCs) in view of the Covid pandemic,”.
India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 4,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals in several states are reeling under the shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
PNN/Agencies