IT Correspondent
Mumbai, June 24:
Indian Naval Ship Shardul, carrying 7,640 filled Oxygen Cylinders, 02 ISO containers of 20 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) each and 15 Oxygen Concentrators from Kuwait and Qatar arrived at Mumbai Port on Thursday.
The ship has been deployed for transportation of liquid medical Oxygen from Gulf countries. The deployment is being undertaken as part of Operation Samudra Setu II, launched by the Indian Navy in support of the national effort to fight COVID-19 pandemic. From the Southern Naval Command, INS Shardul has been engaged in transportation of medical supplies for quite some time.
The Operation Samudra Setu was launched last year by the Navy and around 4000 Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries, amidst COVID 19 outbreak, were successfully repatriated back to India.
In support of the nation’s fight against COVID-19 and as part of operation ‘Samudra Setu II’, seven Indian Naval ships viz. Kolkata, Kochi, Talwar, Tabar, Trikand, Jalashwa and Airavat have been deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment from various countries.
INS Kolkata and INS Talwar, mission deployed in Persian Gulf, were the first batch of ships that were immediately diverted for the task and entered port of Manama, Bahrain on April 30, 2021.
Indian Navy also has the surge capability, to deploy more ships when the need arises to further nation’s fight against COVID-19. It is pertinent that the ships are combat ready and capable of meeting any contingency in keeping with the attributes of versatility of sea power.