NOIDA: The much-awaited oxygen service for Covid-positive residents in home isolation will commence from Wednesday. To start with, Noida Authority officials will hand over 170 refilled oxygen cylinders to RWAs in the next two days. The community centre in Sector 93B has been earmarked as the main collection and distribution centre for the cylinders, officials said.

The Authority will accept all kinds of empty oxygen cylinders from the residents. The refilled cylinders will be given to the respective RWA or AOA between 8am and 11am while empty cylinders will have to be dropped at the Sector 93B community centre in between 3pm and 6pm, officials said. And a team of five Noida officials has been deputed to streamline the Oxygen Refilling Bank — a service initiated by the Authority to help hundreds of families in distress.

On Tuesday, two officers on special duties and two senior managers, besides a police inspector, were appointed to coordinate with the residents’ welfare associations and apartment owners’ associations in the city. Each official has been given a specific role to ensure delivery of the refilled cylinders to the residents groups. While Noida Authority has been able to establish the service by reaching out to BHEL’s plant in Haridwar, the Greater Noida Authority is yet to evolve a mechanism to cater to the demand of its residents.

Sharing more details about her plans, Noida Authority chief CEO Ritu Maheshwari said that the community centre in Sector 93B has been earmarked as the main collection and distribution centre for the oxygen cylinders. “To avoid overcrowding and rush, we will try to give specific time slots to the residents and ask them to maintain proper physical distance. While empty cylinders will be collected in the evening, during the morning hours, refilled cylinders will be provided to office-bearers of RWAs and AOAs,” she said.

Meanwhile, to handle the crisis in a collective manner, several residents groups have decided to pool in resources. The common facilities that have been set up in the residential blocks and apartment complexes will be open for residents from other sectors and blocks as well. “But coordination and documents will have to be provided to the facility manager concerned in advance. Discussions are on among groups to frame a common guideline,” said head of Federation of RWAs in Noida, Yogendra Sharma.

The first truck carrying 80 cylinders, including Type D jumbo cylinders, reached Noida from Haridwar on Tuesday evening, while another loaded with 100 empty cylinders left for Haridwar later in the night.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.