The court told the Delhi government to give it one instance of who was obstructing the oxygen supply and said “we will hang that man”.
Hearing a hospital’s petition over shortage of oxygen for seriously-ill Covid patients, the Delhi High Court today said if anyone obstructs oxygen supply, “we will not spare them”.
The system will “collapse” if the capital doesn’t get 480 metric tonnes of oxygen, the Delhi government told the court. Several hospitals have already flagged the worrying shortage of medical oxygen as they are overwhelmed by the thousands of new daily cases of COVID-19. Big and small, several hospitals in the national capital have raised the issue in past 3 days with the High court. The oxygen shortage has caused the death of Covid patients in at least one hospital in Delhi in the last 24 hours.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government told the court, “If we don’t get 480 metric tonnes (of oxygen), the system will collapse. We have seen in the last 24 hours. Something disastrous will happen.” The government also added that it received only 297 metric tonnes of the medical gas yesterday. The state government also sought a detailed affidavit from the centre with clear details of oxygen allocation and supply schedule.
The court told the Delhi government to give it one instance of who was obstructing the oxygen supply and said “we will hang that man”, news agency PTI reported.
“We will not spare anyone,” the bench added.
The top court also asked the state government to inform the centre too about such officials of the local administration so that it could take action against them.
Hearing the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital’s petition, the court asked the centre: “When will Delhi get 480 metric tonnes? Please tell us that.”
The centre, in today’s hearing, had earlier put the blame back on the AAP government. “States are arranging from tankers to everything. We are just assisting them. But in Delhi, everything is put on us. Delhi officials have to do their job,” the centre said.
“I know my responsibility. I know many things but not saying anything. Let’s try and not be a cry baby,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said in response to Delhi government lawyer Rahul Mehra’s complaint that the centre was not complying with the guidelines for oxygen allocation.
“We are not fighting elections,” Mr Mehta said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
