143-yr-old infrastructure gives oxygen boost to Covid fight

Hyderabad : 02/05/2021

143-yr-old infrastructure gives oxygen boost to Covid fight

Syed Akbar | TNN | Updated: May 2, 2021, 07:42 IST

TNN

The military railway siding in Secunderabad was set up in 1878

HYDERABAD: The military and defence infrastructure created by the British and the Nizam 143 years ago is now saving the lives of thousands of Covid-19 patients by aiding in timely supply of 

oxygen tankers

 to hospitals.

The 

military railway siding

 in 

Secunderabad

 and the Air Force station at Begumpet, which played a key role in 

World War II

, are once again on a war-footing mode to save the lives of Covid-19 patients in Hyderabad.

While the military railway siding built in 1878 is facilitating roll-on and roll-off of 

oxygen

 tankers between Hyderabad and Angul in Odisha, the Air Force station, set up in 1934, is helping in the airlift of oxygen tankers from Hyderabad to Rourkela. The old railway infrastructure created by the Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railways (NGSR) for British troops in Secunderabad Cantonment had helped in saving the lives of innumerable people during the influenza pandemics in 1918 and 1957 and several epidemics in between through movement of healthcare equipment, medicines and medical staff. It also served during World War I and II.

The Air Force station at Begumpet, though a late entrant when compared with the military railway siding in Secunderabad, nevertheless played a crucial role in the movement of men and medicines during World War II and during medical emergencies in the later years. Now in its 87th year, the Air Force station including Begumpet airport has always risen to the emergent situations, be it medical or military.

Earlier this week, the 

Oxygen Express

 loaded with five empty oxygen tankers left the military siding and after refill of oxygen at Angul, the train is returning to Secunderabad and will reach on Sunday or Monday. The five tankers have a total liquid oxygen capacity of 63.6 tonnes.

According to heritage expert P Anuradha Reddy, the rulers in the erstwhile princely Hyderabad state had created infrastructure with foresight that could help people even centuries later. “The military siding was set up in 1878 by extending the Wadi-Secunderabad railway line built during 1874. This gave a seamless connectivity between Secunderabad Cantonment (SC) and Bombay (Mumbai) on one hand and SC and Madras (Chennai) on the other. The British brought horses for the cavalry and a cavalry barracks station was set up. The infrastructure is so robust that even today it is helping in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic,” Anuradha, who is also the convener of INTACH Hyderabad, told TOI.

Established in 1934 as a grassfield runway, the Begumpet airport was taken over by the British during WW-II as an elementary training flying school in 1941. Initially commercial operations were from Hakimpet and passengers were carried in buses from Secunderabad to Hakimpet for boarding.