BMC chief reveals how center coordinated over oxygen crisis

Mumbai: BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal has opened up about the rapid coordination between the municipal corporation and the central government as Mumbai handles the shortage of liquid medical oxygen in the wake of the rise in Covid-19 cases in mid-April. Chahal revealed that on April 16-17, six hospitals in the city, which hosted 168 patients, ran out of oxygen. 

 

 

However, there was a jumbo covid center with about 850 beds of oxygen, and all of these patients were re-deployed by midnight. At 7 a.m., Chahal sent urgent messages to top central and state government officials. Within 15-20 seconds I received an incoming call from Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gubba.  He told me, "Tell me what you want." I said we need to import oxygen to the state. 

 

 

At such brief notice, I told him that we could not produce oxygen and that the time to receive oxygen from Haldia was eight days,” the BMC chief told a national daily. He said Reliance Industries was 16 hours away from Mumbai in Jamnagar and oxygen tankers would come from there every night.  He said such a contribution could not be made to a single city.  I told him that he would allow it to Maharashtra and I would make sure that it would come only to Mumbai city. 

 

 

Then we were allowed 125 metric tons of oxygen from Jamnagar. That same evening, the tankers started moving and now the oxygen problem in Mumbai has become history because of the huge help from the Government of India. Chahal rejected central-state relations, believing that most discussions took place at the bureaucratic level between colleagues such as bach mate.