Delhi gets 555 MT oxygen against demand of 976 MT

Supply has not been done via regular sources, but on ad hoc basis: Raghav Chadha

Workers loading oxygen cylinders at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi on Wednesday.

AAP MLA Radhav Chadha on Wednesday said that the Capital had been supplied 555 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen on Tuesday – the highest amount of oxygen received in the past 10-12 days – but it still fell short of the demand of 976 MT.

On Monday, the Capital had received 433 MT.

He alleged that the supply had not been done via regular sources, but on ad hoc basis after the Delhi High Court came down strongly on the Centre for not supplying the required amount of oxygen. “It was a result of “

jugad ” done by the Centre. It was not supplied to us via our identified sources, but trucks, which were supposed to go to another State were diverted to the national capital. We really hope that we receive the oxygen with full certainty, and the plants which are designated to supply to us must do so on a regular basis,” Mr. Chadha said.

Releasing the oxygen bulletin on the Delhi government, Mr. Chadha said that 48 SOS calls for oxygen were received on Tuesday and the government responded to all by providing 36.40 MT of oxygen from emergency reserves. “The total number of oxygen-support beds in these 48 hospitals, which made SOS appeals was 4,036. This means, 4,036 lives were saved by the Kejriwal government yesterday,” Mr. Chadha said.

The Delhi government also updated its Delhi Corona app to show along with the availability of beds, the availability of oxygen at various hospital and COVID care centers across Delhi.

Explaining the logistics behind the supply of oxygen, Mr. Chadha said that the county has 1,631 cryogenic tankers carrying 8,500 MT of oxygen in the country and demanded that the Central government designate Delhi 187 cryogenic tankers for 976 MT of oxygen demanded by Delhi. “There is no shortage of cryogenic tankers in India. The Central government should control and distribute cryogenic tankers the way it is controlling and distributing oxygen,” he said. He added that States like Delhi, which are not industrial ones, do not own cryogenic tankers and that the Central government must designate such tankers for use in Delhi and declare them as national assets.

“These 1,631 tankers have been illegally captured and monopolised by all the other States of the country. There has been no proper and equitable distribution of these tankers to States. We believe that these tankers are national assets, the Centre should supply and facilitate oxygen cryogenic tankers the way it is doing with oxygen,” Mr. Chadha said.