The Kalaburagi district authorities and the police have launched a crackdown on those indulging in illegal supply of medical oxygen cylinders to neighbouring States. The move comes in the wake of shortage of oxygen cylinders in hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
On Tuesday night, the police arrested two drivers, Mohammad Irfan and Sheikh Hamad Hussain, and seized oxygen cylinders being transported to a private hospital in Telangana.
They also registered a complaint against owner of Vijay Oxygen Industry Vijay Mehta and a doctor from a private hospital in Hyderabad Faizulla Khan.
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Activists attached to various associations stopped a vehicle near Ram Mandir Circle on the suspicion that it was transporting oxygen cylinders illegally and informed the Rural Police Station.
During interrogation, the two drivers revealed that a private hospital has made an online amount transfer to Vijay Oxygen Industry at Nandur Industrial Area on the outskirts of Kalaburagi for refilling 30 oxygen cylinders.
The police seized all the 30 medical oxygen-filled jumbo cylinders and also the vehicle.
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Meanwhile, Minister for Mines and Geology Murugesh Nirani, who is also a district in-charge, reviewed the supply of oxygen to hospitals in the district.
He also directed the district administration to keep an eye on plants illegally refilling oxygen as demand for medical oxygen has gone up in the last few days.