The Supreme Court has stepped into the grim situation on the supply of oxygen and essential medicines across the country and has asked the Centre for a national plan on these issues. The apex court will also look into the vaccination programme across the country in the hearing set for today. Arguing that the current situation warrants it, the Supreme Court is also entertaining a plea by Vedanta to produce oxygen for free at its Sterlite plant in Tamil Nadu, which was ordered closed due to environmental concerns.

Hoarding and blocking of transport of oxygen across State borders has been an issue in the past few days. Delhi had alleged that Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were not allowing oxygen to reach its hospitals. Prime Minister Modi also spoke of the need to prevent hoarding, at a time when patients are dying for want of oxygen and hospitals are down to their last hours of supply. The Centre has now issued orders under the Disaster Management Act to hold district officials personally responsible for the free movement of oxygen. The Empowered Group II comprising of PMO officials and others, which is in charge of oxygen logistics, has also limited the industrial use of oxygen, to divert more for medical purposes. The EG II has also undertaken a mapping exercise of oxygen sources to the States heavily hit by the second wave of the pandemic.

While the Centre may have an action plan to present to the court when the matter comes up for hearing today, it remains to be seen whether it will solve the ongoing crisis quickly. This matter of literal life and death is what makes the story important.

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Which State has granted ambulance status to all vehicles carrying oxygen, nitrogen and argon. to mitigate the medical oxygen crisis and to provide its speedy delivery amid the pandemic?

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