Nagpur-based billionaire Pyare Khan has spent around ₹85 lakh so far to help distribute 400 metric tons (MT) of medical liquid oxygen to government hospitals in Nagpur and its neighbouring regions. This came at a time when obtaining life-saving oxygen for a COVID-19 patient proved to be a monumental task.
Khan’s act of generosity in a time of despair and dejection has touched hearts all over the country. Though the administration offered to pay him back, Khan apparently refused it adding that he considered this his personal duty or “zakat” during the holy month of Ramzan.
Pyare Khan’s life started off with selling oranges outside the Nagpur Railway Station in 1995. Today, Khan’s net worth is said to be well over ₹400 crores with his transport firm, Ashmi Road Carriers Pvt. Ltd employing over 1,200 people.
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This noble cause wasn’t cheap by any means with Khan saying that he paid three times the amount to get two cryogenic tankers from Bengaluru.
Overall, he reportedly paid around ₹14 lakhs more than the market price for such tankers. This was mostly because India was facing a massive scarcity of oxygen, leading to disastrous situations in hospitals across the country. The situation appears to have improved to a certain degree now, however.
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Pyare Khan said that getting tankers to their destination also proved to be a hurdle as oxygen tankers were arriving from regions like Raipur, Rourkela, and Bhilai.
Among the other items offered via the billionaire’s initiative includes 116 oxygen concentrators that will reportedly be donated to AIIMS, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), and Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital (IGCMCH) in Nagpur.
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