With several hospitals reporting shortage of oxygen in the national Capital due to rising cases of Covid-19, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that the Delhi Government is making efforts to airlift its enhanced quota of oxygen supply from Odisha.

He also called Haryana Chief Minister and sought support to ensure smooth passage for trucks carrying oxygen.

“I spoke to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana Sh Manohar Lal Khattar ji. Sought his support in facilitating transport of oxygen trucks from Haryana to Delhi. He has assured full support,” he tweeted.

Chief Minister Kejriwal said a major chunk of the freshly allotted quota of oxygen to Delhi comes from Odisha, which is hundreds of kilometres away, and the Delhi Government is planning to airlift it to save time at this critical juncture in the fight against coronavirus.

"Recd a call from Sh Naveen Patnaik ji. He has assured complete support to Delhi in facilitating lifting of Delhi’s quota of oxygen from Orissa. He has put a spl officer on the job. Thank u sooo much Sir. Delhi is indeed grateful," Kejriwal tweeted.

He said Delhi had a daily quota of 378 MT of medical oxygen that has been increased to 480 MT, and thanked the Central government for it. But, he said, more supplies are needed as according to estimates Delhi needs 700 MT of oxygen daily.

Delhi received its quota of oxygen as fixed by the Centre from other states, he said, but added; some states stopped trucks headed to the national capital.

The chief minister thanked the Centre and the High Court for their efforts towards raising Delhi's oxygen quota for treating Covid'19 patients, and said the supplies have started reaching the national capital.

“Our entire supply of oxygen comes from companies based in other states. The problem that has arisen here is that the states in which these companies are based are not allowing oxygen cylinders to come to Delhi. They say they wish to use the oxygen in their own states. Trucks supplying oxygen are being stopped. We are thankful to the Central government and the Delhi High Court who have aided us in this situation. Trucks have slowly started reaching Delhi," he added.

On the increased oxygen supply for Delhi, Kejriwal said, The newly increased quota of oxygen is going to be supplied primarily from Odisha.

“This consignment will take some time to reach New Delhi. We are trying our best to airlift oxygen from Odisha to cut down on the time, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.