Oxygen cylinders seized in Rohtas yet to be used

PATNA: Amid the acute oxygen availability crisis with people running from pillar to posts, 129 jumbo-sized cylinders are in the possession of Rohtas police possession for more than 24 hours due to pending legal formalities after they were seized from a black marketeer.
These oxygen cylinders could save precious lives. Besides the cylinders, police also recovered many regulators fitted with pressure gauges and flow metres for use in these cylinders.
The Rohtas police along with the district administration and a drug inspection team had conducted a raid at a shop named Vikash Traders located at Vaishnavi complex on Station Road under the Dehri police station area on Friday after receiving input about hoarding and black-marketing of oxygen cylinders.
Police arrested the trader Vikash Kumar for black-marketing the cylinders.
Police sources said the cylinders were being sold for Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 to attendants of Covid-19 patients who are in dire need of oxygen support. Vikash had bought the cylinders from different areas of Bihar and Jharkhand.
When asked if the cylinders have been handed over to a hospital, Rohtas SP Ashish Bharti said police would take necessary action after seeking the court’s permission.
Incidentally, this crucial issue was raised by AIIMS-Patna counsel Binay Kumar Pandey before the Patna high court on Friday that the oxygen cylinders and drugs being seized at this point need to be released immediately by the courts for being handed over to hospitals so that they could be used for saving lives else these resources which have become precious in present scenario would be lying unused at police station maal-khana.
The high court had directed the state government to apprise it on Monday what action it was taking on this issue.
Rohtas ACMO Dr KN Tiwari said DM Dharmendra Kumar has told him that they would be provided with 20 of the seized jumbo type-D cylinders within a day or two after completing legal formalities in court. “Rest of the seized cylinders would also be distributed across the district as per need,” he said.
“Since the cylinders have been seized by police and FIR has been registered in connection with the case, they can’t be released without the court’s permission,” he said.
ADG (headquarters) Jitendra Kumar said an advisory has been issued by the Economic Offences Unit to all district police that prayer must be made before the court by public prosecutors immediately so that seized items such as oxygen cylinders or drugs are immediately released for use at hospitals.