Delhi exaggerated oxygen requirement: Supreme Court panel

During the second wave of Corona, Delhi exaggerated its oxygen requirement. This could have adversely affected the oxygen supply of other states. The committee constituted for Oxygen Audit of Delhi has accepted this.

The actual oxygen consumption stated by the Delhi government (1,140MT) was almost four times greater than the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity (289 MT)," according to an interim report by the Supreme Court-appointed oxygen audit panel.

During the months of April and May, the national capital experienced a severe scarcity of oxygen, available beds, and medicines for COVID-19 patients. During a 24-hour period on April 20, 2021, Delhi reported roughly 28,000 new COVID-19 cases.

The Supreme Court had appointed a 12-person task committee to investigate the oxygen requirement. In a report to the Supreme Court, the SC panel stated that while the actual O2 requirement in Delhi was 289 MT, the Delhi government claimed it was 1200 MT, which was far more than the actual demand computed using the bed capacity calculation.

The SC task force also submitted that oxygen tankers could not be offloaded at various hospitals on May 13 as their tanks already had over 75 per cent oxygen as per their capacity. The Delhi government’s data stated that Oxygen consumption in the state did not exceed 350 MT between April 29 to May 10.

Supreme Court constituted Oxygen Audit Committee has not approved any report yet. Then, which is this report that BJP leaders have been quoting? I challenge BJP to bring this report signed by members of Oxygen Audit Committee: Delhi Dy CM Manish Sisodia