PM Narendra Modi today while addressing MAN KI BAAT said We are seeing how the country is fighting against Covid-19 with all her might. This has been the biggest pandemic in the last hundred years and during this very pandemic, India has confronted many a natural disaster with fortitude. Meanwhile, there were cyclone Amphan and cyclone Nisarg…many states had floods…there were many minor and major earthquakes; there were landslides.
Just recently, in the past ten days, the country faced two major cyclones – cyclone Taukte on the west coast and cyclone Yaas on the east coast. Both these cyclones affected a number of States. The country and her people fought them with all their strength, ensuring minimum loss of life. We experience now that compared to earlier times, we are being able to save the lives of maximum people. Under these trying and extraordinary calamitous circumstances, people of all these cyclone affected States have displayed courage…they’ve faced this moment of crisis with immense patience and discipline.
I wish to commend all citizens respectfully, wholeheartedly. People who led rescue and relief work deserve more appreciation than can be expressed. I salute all of them. The Centre, State governments and local administration have come together to face this calamity. My heart goes out to all the people who’ve lost their near and dear ones. Let us all firmly stand by those who have borne the brunt of this disaster.
My dear countrymen, however big the challenge be, India’s victory-resolve, her Vijay-Sankalp has always been equal in magnitude. Her collective strength and our spirit of service has always rescued the country from the midst of every storm.
We’ve seen in the days gone by how our doctors, nurses and frontline warriors have toiled day and night without bothering about themselves, and continue to do so. Amidst all this, there indeed are people who’ve played a major role in the fight against the second wave of Corona. Many listeners of Mann Ki Baat, on NamoApp and through letters, have urged me to touch upon these warriors.
Friends, when the second wave came, the demand for oxygen surged all of a sudden…this was a very big challenge…delivering medical oxygen to remote parts of the country was indeed a huge task. If an oxygen tanker moves fast, the slightest error can lead to the risk of a big explosion. Many plants manufacturing industrial oxygen are located in the eastern parts of the country…transporting oxygen from there to other states of the country requires many days. In confronting this challenge, the country was helped by cryogenic tanker drivers, the Oxygen Express and Air Force pilots…many such people worked on a war footing, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
