Report on Delhi inflating oxygen requirement doesn't exist: Manish Sisodia
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday denied claims that the city government "inflated" its medical oxygen needs at the height of the pandemic. An interim report—prepared by an audit panel and submitted to the Supreme Court—stated that Delhi's oxygen requirement was inflated four times. Sisodia argued that members of the oxygen audit committee have "not signed or approved" any such report yet.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Sisodia said that the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi has been abusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on the basis of the report. "There is no such report. No such report exists. The BJP is lying," he said. "Where is this report? Which report is this? Where did it come from?"
Sisodia said, "We have spoken to multiple members of the SC audit committee. Everyone has told us that they have not signed any such report. They have not approved any report yet." He said, "I challenge them to bring this report forward; one that is approved by the audit committee. There is a limit to lies and the BJP has reached its limit."
Sisodia said, "Delhi's residents who saw the state of hospitals at the height of pandemic know well how bad the oxygen shortage was." "Managing India's oxygen supply was the Centre's responsibility, but they messed it up. Instead of taking accountability, a fraudulent report is drafted at the BJP headquarters and they claim the audit panel prepared this! They should be ashamed," he said.
He said, "They're not abusing the Delhi government. They're abusing the people who lost their kin due to the Centre's oxygen mismanagement. Are they lying? Are the doctors, who said their hospitals are running out of oxygen, lying? Are the patients, who went to court, also lying? Calling the BJP "Bharatiya Jhagadalu Party" (India's quarrelsome party), he said the BJP should get a job.
The Supreme Court had set up an audit panel at the peak of India's second wave of COVID-19 to look into Delhi's oxygen requirement and supply. The sub-group's interim report submitted to the SC "noted gross discrepancy" in the actual consumption (289 metric tonnes or MT) and the claimed consumption (1,140 MT) of oxygen by the formula for bed capacity.
Four hospitals (Singhal, Aryan Asaf Ali, ESIC Model, and Liferays) claimed extremely high consumption of medical oxygen with very few beds, the report said. "The claims appeared to be clearly erroneous leading to extremely skewed info and significantly higher oxygen requirement for Delhi," it added.
