Raise Capital’s daily quota of oxygen: Sisodia to Goyal

He says Delhi not even getting its allotted share of 490 MT

April 30, 2021 12:42 am | Updated 12:42 am IST - New Delhi

Relatives of COVID-19 patients wait over the footpath along the LNJP hospital during following the pandemic crisis, with shortage of beds with ICU and oxygen in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA / The Hindu

Relatives of COVID-19 patients wait over the footpath along the LNJP hospital during following the pandemic crisis, with shortage of beds with ICU and oxygen in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA / The Hindu

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday wrote to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, requesting him to increase the medical oxygen allotted to Delhi to 976 MT a day from the current 490 MT.

Mr. Sisodia also said currently Delhi is not even getting its allotted share of 490 MT a day.

“The people and the Government of NCT of Delhi will be extremely grateful to the Government of India if it can kindly increase the allocation from the present 490 MT per day to 976 MT per day, preferably from nearby oxygen plants, reducing the turnaround time,” Mr. Sisodia wrote to Goyal.

‘Beds not functional’

He said 5,000 beds are ready at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Chhatarpur but only 300 are functional due to shortage of oxygen. Similarly, 1,000 beds at Sant Nirankari Mission and 1,500 at Sawan Kripal Ruhani Mission are ready but these also cannot be made functional due to an oxygen shortage, he added.

The additional oxygen allocation is urgently required to prevent the impending medical crisis, he said, adding: “It is also our humble request to provide transport infrastructure, including railways and tankers, for the additional allocation since Delhi is a non-industrial State and accordingly, does not have its own infrastructure.”

The Delhi government will work in close coordination with the Centre and other States to overcome the present “crisis”, especially in augmenting the transport infrastructure of medical oxygen, the Minister said.

“Kindly allocate the additional requirements on humanitarian grounds in this hour of an unprecedented health crisis,” Mr. Sisodia said in the letter.

AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha on Thursday said as per the Central government’s own formula, the appropriate amount of oxygen required for hospitals in Delhi is 976 MT.

“Against this requirement, Delhi has been allocated only 490 MT of oxygen, and the actual quantity received is even lesser at 400 MT. On behalf of the people of Delhi, I request the Centre to show the same magnanimity and large-heartedness when dealing with the demand of oxygen put forward by Delhi,” Mr. Chadha said.

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