Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said the Centre has not asked the Delhi government for data on deaths due to lack of oxygen in the city.
“No information or letter has been sent to the Delhi government so far. The Central government is spreading a lie that States are not giving information, whereas they have not asked for any information from the States,” Mr. Sisodia said,
He said that during the second wave, the country was struggling with the oxygen crisis and people in hospitals were “dying due to lack of oxygen”.
“We have decided that the Delhi government will send complete information about the deaths due to lack of oxygen in the form of a report to the Central government,” Mr. Sisodia said.
Meanwhile, Joint Secretary of Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal on Tuesday said no State has so far said specifically that there were deaths because of oxygen shortage except one.
Delhi Congress Chief Ch. Anil Kumar said the Delhi government was finally admitting that people had died due to shortage of medical oxygen as Mr. Sisodia accused the Centre of “lying”.
This, he said, comes after Minister of State for Health Bharati Parvin Pawar, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said “no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by States/UTs during the second of the pandemic”.
“Due to the shadow boxing between the Modi and Kejriwal governments, the people of Delhi suffered,” Mr. Kumar said.
Meanwhile, the BJP accused Mr. Sisodia of playing “petty politics” on the issue of oxygen-scarcity deaths. Rohini BJP MLA Vijender Gupta said the Delhi government was “lying” in the court on this issue.