The audit team appointed by the Supreme Court has found very disturbing information on the extent of exaggeration of the oxygen requirement in the national capital by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
As per the audit report, the AAP had ordered more than four times during the April 25-May 10 which was the peak period of the Covid-19 second wave, reports Times of India.
According to the Supreme Court-appointed oxygen audit team, Cheif Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his government exaggerated and made false claims of oxygen shortage in the national capital during the height of the second wave which led to supply constraints in at least 12 states who needed it.
“There was a gross discrepancy (about four times). The actual oxygen consumption claimed by the Delhi government (1,140MT) was about four times higher than the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity (289 MT),” the SC-appointed oxygen audit committee said in its report.
On May 8, the Supreme Court ordered the formation of a 12-member National Task Force it had constituted to form sub-committees for each state to carry out an audit to determine the Oxygen supplies allocated by the Union Government for each state and Union Territory.
In its submission to the sub-group, the Petroleum and Oxygen Safety Organisation (PESO) had stated that the “National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) had surplus oxygen, which is affecting liquid medical oxygen (LMO) supply to other states”.
Earlier, the Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) under the government of India had conducted a similar study, in which it had revealed that Delhi was actually getting more oxygen than it needed.
However, it is very strange when Delhi had more oxygen supply, many hospitals in Delhi had been running out of oxygen supply with some facilities claiming critical Covid-19 patients had died due to a shortage in oxygen supply during April-May that allowed the Kejriwal government to play cheap politics with the Modi government at the Centre over the supply of LMO to the national capital.
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