The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) says that it is coordinating with state governments to ensure the supply of medical equipment and related essential items needed for protection against and testing of COVID-19. The senior officials of the Ministry coordinate with supply agencies for providing required material which can be further transported to the desired destinations, based on the requirements received from various states on urgent basis. Air India and Alliance Air flights are being operated to carry out the necessary supply operations across the country.
Agencies authorised by MoCA to carry shipment on these flights contact the concerned officials of their region and coordinate for timely delivery/ receipt of shipments.
In order to cater to eastern and north eastern parts of the country, an Alliance Air flight from Delhi to Kolkata carried shipments for Kolkata, Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Agartala on March 29, 2020. In northern region, IAF flight from Delhi to Chandigarh to Leh carried ICMR VTM kits and other essential cargo. Alliance Air transferred Pune shipment to Mumbai on Air India flight.
Flights on Mumbai -Delhi-Hyderabad-Chennai-Mumbai and Hyderabad-Coimbatore route carried and transported ICMR kits of Shimla, Rishikesh, Lucknow and Imphal from Pune to Delhi. ICMR kits were carried to Chennai. A consignment of Hyderabad was delivered. Consignments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were also delivered. A consignment of Ministry of Textiles was moved to Coimbatore.
The information sharing, answering of queries and the work at ground is going on round the clock for delivering the supplies to the destinations in a timely manner so the efforts to fight the COVID-19 are multiplied and supplemented.