New Delhi (NVI): The Central government today pressed Air India and its subsidiary Alliance Air into contributing cargo services to ferry medical equipment to different parts of the country, to fight against the spread of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is coordinating with the state governments for supply of medical equipment and related essential items needed for protection against and testing of coronavirus.
“Based on requirements received from various states on urgent basis, the senior officials of the Ministry coordinate with supply agencies for providing required material which can be further transported to the desired destinations,” MoCA said in a statement.
Air India and Alliance Air flights are being operated to carry out the necessary supply operations across the country.
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.
Whereas, in northern region, IAF flight from Delhi to Chandigarh to Leh carried ICMR VTM kits and other essential cargo.
“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 that the efforts to fight COVID-19 are multiplied and supplemented,” the statement said.
Currently, no domestic or international passenger flight are in operation.
However, cargo operations have been permitted to continue.
