Jalna, May 10 (PTI) As many as 49 oxygen cylinders have been recovered from a godown in Jalna town of central Maharashtra, an official said on Monday.

The seizure was made after a joint team of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the local police and district officials raided the godown located in the Garibshah Bazaar area on Sunday night, he said.

Medical oxygen is used in treating COVID-19 patients and its demand has shot up manifold during the second wave of the pandemic.

Jalna tehsildar Shrikant Bhujbal said, "We had received information that in view of a shortage of oxygen, the godown's owner, Satishchand Subashchand Jain, a resident Nehru Road, had allegedly stored oxygen cylinders and was selling them."

Acting on the information, the joint team raided the godown and recovered 40 jumbo and nine small oxygen cylinders, he said.

Bhujbal said, "We are ascertaining whether the owner has a licence and proper documents for storing cylinders."

FDA officer Anjali Mitkar said "We are probing whether all norms were followed by the owner of the godown while procuring oxygen."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)