Nagpur Billionaire Spends Rs 85 Lakh to Provide Oxygen to Covid Hospitals, Calls it ‘Ramzan Duty’

At a grim time when India is battling a deadly second wave of Covid-19 coupled with country’s overburdened healthcare infrastructure, people are running pillar to post for for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders. In these bleak times,some good samaritans have emerged as saviours.

Amid a crippling shortage of oxygen across the nation, a self-made billionaire Pyare Khan from Nagpur has reportedly spent Rs 85 lakh. He has ensured that 400 metric tonnes of medical liquid oxygen reaches government hospitals in and around Nagpur for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Khan, a leading transporter, has been providing oxygen to hospitals and hence saving the lives of several Covid-19 patients. He has provided 32 tonnes of oxygen till now, India Today reported.Son of a small grocer from the slums of Tajbagh, Khan started by selling oranges outside Nagpur railway station in 1995 andnow owns a company worth Rs 400 crore.

The Nagpur administration has offered to pay him for oxygen transportation, however Khan refused it saying the expenditure was his duty-bound ‘zakat’ during the holy month of Ramzan. According to holy texts, Zakat is a religious obligation, ordering all Muslims who meet the necessary criteria to donate a certain portion of wealth each year to charitable causes.

According to Khan, the expenditure on oxygen is his service to humanity in the time of crisis. Reportedly, Khan paid three times more to hire two cryogenic gas tankers from Bengaluru. As the demand for oxygen soared amid the increasing death rate in Nagpur, he paid Rs 14 lakh more than the market price for the tankers.