Govt: 15 tonnes of medical supplies ferried in 62 flights

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

In a bid to ensure smooth supply of medical equipment and medicines at a time when the country is battling out to curb spread of Covid-19 through 21-day lockdown, the Ministry of Civil Aviation today said domestic airlines and cargo operators along with the Indian Air Force have transported 15.4 tonnes of medical supplies in 62 flights between March 26 and March 30.

Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said: “The cargo essentially included Covid-19 related reagents, enzymes, medical equipment, testing kits and personal protective equipment (PPE), masks, gloves and other accessories of HLL and cargo requisitioned by state or union territories governments and postal packets.”

In an official statement, the Civil Aviation Ministry said it has formed “a committee to facilitate movement of cargo across the country during the 21-day lockdown period”. The ministry is facilitating the cargo movement “using hub and spoke model”, it said.

“Cargo hubs have been created at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata. Hubs feed to spokes at Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Aizwal, Imphal, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram,” it said in the statement.

As India is under the lockdown till April 14 to curb the spread of coronavirus, international commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period. However cargo flights, offshore helicopter operations, medical evacuation flights and flights that have got special approval from aviation regulator DGCA are permitted to operate.

“A dedicated medical air cargo related website has been launched and is functional. This website will be fully functional from April 1, 2020. The link is available on the MoCA website,” the ministry said.