O2 supply up, but still short by 43%: Delhi govt

NEW DELHI: The oxygen bulletin for Tuesday reported an improvement in the supply to the city. Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson and MLA Raghav Chadha said on Wednesday that 555 metric tonnes of oxygen had arrived in Delhi, but this was still only 57% of the demand placed by Delhi government. Chadha also pointed out that this supply came from temporary, non-regular sources in compliance with court orders and demanded guaranteed supplies from regular sources with a reliable supply chain.
The oxygen bulletin also revealed that the state government received 48 SOS calls for oxygen on Tuesday from hospitals which together had 4,036 oxygen-equipped beds and supplied them with 36.4 MT of the gas from the emergency buffer stocks.
Chadha said that after Delhi High Court's rebuke, the central government has allotted Delhi 555 MT of oxygen though the requirement in the capital was 976 MT. He said, “Delhi High Court even compared the Centre to an ostrich hiding its head in the sand and criticised it for being ignorant of the massive toll caused by the insufficiency in oxygen supply. The central government appears to living in an ivory tower, oblivious to the plight of people.”
It was only due to this strongly worded criticism by the high court on Tuesday that Delhi was able to get the biggest volume of oxygen till now from the Centre, said the Rajendra Nagar MLA. “Yesterday we received 555 MT of liquid medical oxygen. When we compare this volume with what we got in the last 10-12 days, it is high, but it was only the result of the court’s condemnation,” said Chadha.
The AAP spokesperson, however, said the supply was ad-hoc. “It was a result of jugaad by the Centre. It was not supplied to us via our identified sources, such as plants in Kalinga Nagar, Kashipur, Durgapur, etc. The gas was supplied through temporary measures, like by diverting oxygen trucks going to another state,” he said. “We really hope that we receive the oxygen with full certainty and the plants that are designated to supply to Delhi do so on a regular basis.”
He hoped that the central government wouldn’t just supply the stipulated volume of oxygen only when the courts denounce the central government. “There should be a system that does not require the intervention of the judiciary, through the plants permanently designated to provide Delhi oxygen supplies,” Chadha declared.
There were 48 distress calls regarding oxygen shortage in hospitals on Tuesday. “This included complaints like unavailability of oxygen and cylinders or depleting stocks or problems with refilling. “In response to these, we supplied 36.4 MT of oxygen and met the needs of all the distressed hospitals,” said the MLA. “We have formulated a number of response points, like at Raj Ghat and Mayapuri, from where the SOS stock reserves are mobilised.”