Delhi Exaggerated Oxygen Requirement By 4 Times During 2nd COVID-19 Wave: SC panel

Mumbai: A Supreme Court panel has said in its interim report that the Delhi government exaggerated the city’s oxygen requirement by four times during the second COVID-19 wave.

This surplus of oxygen affects supplies to 12 high caseload states, the SC audit report said.

Responding to this, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that accountability should be fixed for disrupting India’s oxygen supply.

“There was a gross discrepancy (about four times). This is because the actual oxygen consumption claimed by the Delhi government (1,140 MT) was almost four times the consumption calculated on the basis of bed capacity (289 MT),” TOI quoted the panel report as saying.

The Petroleum and Oxygen Safety Organization (PESO) said Delhi has excess oxygen, and the UT getting extra O2 could lead to a national crisis.

In the April-May period, the Delhi government and the Center were at loggerheads over the lack of oxygen in the national capital, with people everywhere rushing for oxygen cylinders, hospital beds, and remdesivir injections.

Following the intervention of the Delhi High Court, the Center amended Delhi’s oxygen quota, which is sending more tankers to the national capital by reducing allocation to other states.

The audit report further states that Delhi needs 300 metric tonnes of oxygen, but the Kejriwal government increased the demand to 1200 metric tonnes.

Meanwhile, the Oxygen Task Force has recommended that a strategy should be designed for large cities so that local oxygen production can meet at least 50 percent of their oxygen demand.

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