Didn't Get Centre Letter For Info On Oxygen Crisis Deaths: Manish Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today alleged that the Delhi government has not received any letter from the Centre inquiring if any deaths in the national capital occurred due to oxygen shortage during the second Covid wave.

The minister, however, said they have decided to share all the details with the central government.

"The central government has not yet asked Delhi whether there have been deaths due to lack of oxygen in Delhi or not, but in Delhi we have decided that the Delhi government will send the complete information about the deaths due to lack of oxygen in the form of a report, to the Central government.

"You can put out that reply in front of the Supreme Court and the public and in Parliament," he said in an online briefing.

Mr Sisodia accused the Centre of not showing seriousness towards the oxygen crisis during the second wave.

"The country was struggling with the oxygen crisis during the second wave of Covid. People in hospitals were dying due to lack of oxygen. The Supreme Court seriously questioned the central government on this, but the central government continues to remain insensitive," he said.

Citing media reports, he said the Centre has asked state governments to inform on the number of deaths occurring due to the oxygen crisis in each state.

A newspaper report claims that 13 states have responded, out of which only one state has submitted the number of deaths while the other 12 have claimed that no deaths occurred in their area, he said.

"A few days ago, I had read that the central government has given time until August 13 to state governments to inform them regarding the number of deaths due to oxygen scarcity. But till now no information or letter has been sent to the Delhi government," he said.

Mr Sisodia accused the Centre of spreading the lie that states are not giving information and said that the Centre "has not asked for any information from the states".

"The Delhi government had constituted an inquiry committee long back to audit the deaths due to lack of oxygen in Delhi, but it was rejected by the Lieutenant Governor at the behest of the central government. This shows that the central government is neither asking anything from the states nor allowing the states to work," he alleged.

The Delhi government believes that there was an oxygen crisis and without an inquiry it is difficult to say whether any deaths happened due to it or not, he said.

While stating that the people have not forgotten the pain of the crisis that spread across the country during the second wave, he said if the third wave comes, the oxygen crisis may arise again.