New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allegations over an audit report about the national capital’s oxygen requirement amid the second wave of Covid-19.
The report said that the government has demanded four times more oxygen supply than required. Manish Sisodia claimed that the “alleged” report does not exist.
Read also | Delhi government increased oxygen requirement by 4 times amid second wave of Kovid: SC Audit Committee
Presenting the Delhi government’s response to the BJP’s allegations, Manish Sisodia said: “We spoke to the audit committee members, who say that we have not signed any report or approved it.”
“Where has this report come from? I ask BJP leaders to calm down and ask themselves where is this report based on which they are making allegations,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi challenged the leaders of the saffron party to present the report which is signed by the members of the Supreme Court-appointed audit committee.
“There is a limit to lies and deceit and the BJP has crossed it. The conspiracy on sub-judice matters is wrong,” he said.
He said that the BJP leaders and the central government minister should submit the report on the basis of which they started abusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Manish Sisodia said that the BJP’s arguments are insulting those who have lost their family members in the midst of the second wave of Kovid. “Were the doctors lying? Were the hospitals lying? Were all the patients lying?” He asked.
He urged PM Narendra Modi to take cognizance of the situation and ask the saffron party members not to indulge in such allegations.
Sisodia accused the BJP of fighting the battle on the basis of lies, terming the BJP as a “Indian quarrel party”.
Earlier today, BJP held a press conference on the said report, in which party spokesperson Sambit Patra said: “It is unbelievable to see that Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi government politicized oxygen supply when Covid was at its peak. There is petty politics. The data presented in the report of the Oxygen Audit Committee is shocking”.
On May 8, the Supreme Court had constituted a 12-member task force to improve the oxygen delivery system in the country. A separate sub-group was created for Delhi which includes AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, Max Healthcare’s Sandeep Budhiraja along with senior IAS officers from the Center and Delhi.
According to inputs, the Petroleum and Oxygen Safety Organization (PESO) has told this committee that Delhi has surplus oxygen which other states could have got. Continuing excess supplies to Delhi could lead to a national crisis.
As per derivative based bed capacity estimates, Delhi required only 289 MT of oxygen. But the government put forward a requirement of up to 1140 MT. This was almost 4 times more than the estimated requirement, according to the information available in the report.
The report of the committee is yet to be filed in the court. The matter is to be heard in the Supreme Court on June 30.
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