Work on war footing to provide oxygen, beds: Rajnath to DPSUs, DRDO

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday asked the armed forces and other defence ministry officials to work closely in assisting the state governments in the fight against the pandemic and gave emergency powers of procurement to meet critical needs. He urged defence public sector undertakings, DRDO and Ordnance Factory Board to work on a war footing to provide oxygen cylinders and extra beds to state governments at the earliest.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry said that besides the recently-launched DRDO facility in Delhi, similar initiatives will be ready within 8 to 10 days in Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna and Ahmedabad.

The ministry said that Singh held a virtual meeting to “review the preparedness of Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces to deal with the recent spike in Covid-19 cases”.