The findings in the interim report of a panel appointed by the Supreme Court to audit oxygen utilisation in Delhi during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 led to political sniping on Friday morning.
The Supreme Court had constituted a four-member panel on May 8 to audit the supply, distribution and utilisation of oxygen in the national capital after multiple cases emerged of COVID patients dying due to oxygen shortage.
Media reports on Friday claimed the panel's interim report found the Arvind Kejriwal government had exaggerated its oxygen requirements by four times. The Times of India quoted the report as saying "There was a gross discrepancy (about four times). The actual oxygen consumption claimed by the Delhi government (1,140MT) was about four times higher than the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity (289 MT).". The report found the inflated demand in Delhi "could have triggered a crisis in... supply to 12 high-caseload states".
The report singled out four hospitals in Delhi for inflating their oxygen requirements: Singhal Hospital, Aruna Asif Ali Hospital, ESIC Model Hospital and Liferay Hospital. According to reports, the panel found the oxygen requirements were inflated fourfold in the period between April 25 and May 10.
The BJP hit out at the AAP government over the panel report. Parvesh Sahib Singh, the BJP MP for Delhi West, tweeted, "Remember how @ArvindKejriwal was crying for shortage of oxygen? Supreme Court audit panel has found that delhi Govt. artificially inflated demand for oxygen by 4 times! 12 states suffered because of this. But kejriwal ad budget will stop this story in becoming headline."
The BJP Delhi unit declared the Kejriwal government stood exposed. The BJP Delhi unit tweeted, "The Supreme Court oxygen audit team has put the Kejriwal government on the dock for exaggerating the oxygen requirement for Delhi by more than four times during the April 25-May 10 peak of the second Covid wave. The despicable act of the Kejriwal government stands exposed."
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Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted about the issue and noted, "Hope accountability is fixed for disrupting oxygen supply across India."
The oxygen shortage issue had become a symbol of the peak of the second wave in India.
