Linde Group and the Tata Group have sourced 24 cryogenic oxygen tanks to help augment oxygen delivery in the fight against Covid, the German firm's India unit said in a statement.

"To respond to the national urgency, Linde India has joined hands with Tata group and Government of India to undertake measures to augment the availability of LMO across the country," it said.

To bolster the delivery infrastructure for medical oxygen, Linde India in partnership with Tata Group has secured 24 cryogenic containers for the carriage of medical oxygen from international sources.

"These containers have arrived by airways to the eastern part of India, from where Linde would be transporting them to their liquid oxygen manufacturing facility. At the Linde facility, these cryogenic ISO containers would be conditioned and certified for liquid medical oxygen (LMO) usage," it said.

Each of these containers, which can carry up to 20 tonnes of liquid oxygen, will be used by Linde to pick up oxygen from various manufacturing facilities and deliver it to hospitals where required. These ISO containers can also act as interim oxygen storages in remote areas which are facing oxygen scarcity.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Linde has been committed to finding innovative solutions and partnering in ventures that enable the faster supply of medical oxygen.

"The partnership with Government of India will help to airlift cryogenic road tankers from Delhi for filling liquid oxygen at Linde's oxygen plant in Durgapur. This will provide the much-needed medical oxygen to Delhi. Indian Railways will ferry empty tankers on the 'Oxygen Express' from Kalamboli, and from Maharashtra to Vizag, where the tankers will be filled with liquid oxygen and sent back to Maharashtra," the statement said.