Shimla, May 31 (IANS): BJP President J.P. Nadda on Monday virtually laid the foundation stones for two oxygen plants with a capacity of 140 litres per minute each in Himachal Pradesh in the presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur.

The plants will be commissioned at the Dr Radhakrishanan Government Medical College in Hamirpur and at the Community Health Centre in Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district. Each plant would provide oxygen supply to 30 beds.

While addressing the event from New Delhi, Nadda, who belongs to the hill state, said when most of the national political parties have gone under "virtual quarantine", the BJP through its "Sewa Hi Sangathan" has come forward to help the people of the state fight the pandemic.

He said the Union government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has provided free ration to about 80 crore people of the country during both the first and second wave of the pandemic.

Nadda said 926,963 eligible farmers of the state have been provided an assistance of Rs 1355.80 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna till now.

The BJP President also said that there was only one virology lab to test coronavirus in the country last year, but now India has over 2,500 labs, providing immediate testing facilities to the patients.

He also appreciated Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur for helping Himachal fight the pandemic.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that on March 1, the state had only 11 dedicated Covid hospitals and health centres with a bed capacity of 440. The state has added 46 more facilities with a bed capacity of around 3,500 and more than 250 ICU and ventilator beds.

He said the three makeshift hospitals at Khaliyar in Mandi district, Paraur in Kangra district and Rabon in Solan district have increased the bed capacity to 5,000.

The Chief Minister said the state has administered 23.59 lakh doses of vaccine so far and it is one of the few states to achieve zero per cent wastage of vaccines.

He also thanked Anurag Thakur for his generous contribution to the state in fighting the pandemic.

On his part, Anurag Thakur said that it was due to the initiative of party President J.P. Nadda that each and every BJP functionary contributed generously towards helping Covid-19 patients and their families.

Stating that not even a single PPE kit was produced in country when the pandemic broke out last year, Anurag Thakur said, "Today the nation is producing about 20 lakh PPE kits per day."

He said that 23 crore doses of vaccine have been administered to the people across the country.

The MoS for Finance also said that an oxygen bank would be set up in Himachal Pradesh which would provide oxygen to 700 beds.