SC TELLS CENTRE TO RAISE DELHI’S OXYGEN QUOTA; SOS CALLS PERSIST

NEW DELHI: : The Supreme Court directed the Union government to ensure the deficit in oxygen supply to Delhi is met by the midnight of May 3, according to its order uploaded on Sunday, which came hours after at least five hospitals sent distress messages about their dwindling stocks and a day after 12 people died at a private hospital when their oxygen support dried up.

The court noted details of allocations, demand, projected demand, and actual daily dispatches of liquid medical oxygen and said it “accepts the submissions” by the solicitor general to ensure Delhi is supplied with oxygen as per its “projected demand”. The order cited an April 18 forecast that predicted Delhi would need 700MT of oxygen daily.

“We accept his submission and direct compliance within 2 days from the date of the hearing, that is, on or before midnight of 3 May 2021,” the order said.

According to data available on Sunday, the Capital received the most amount of medical oxygen in a day so far with 454 MT on Saturday, which came after the Delhi high court threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against Union government officials.

The apex court’s directions now mean Delhi will need to be supplied with 700MT of liquid medical oxygen by the May 3 deadline.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi HC pulled up officials from both administrations afresh in an unusual Sunday sitting, which was to discuss an application by the Centre for the HC to recall its May 1 order warning of contempt proceedings if the Capital did not receive its quota of 490MT.

“On Saturday, Delhi received 454 MT oxygen, of which 32 MT was arranged from Haryana at the last minute by the central government,” said a senior Delhi government official, who asked not to be identified.

Delhi government records showed that between April 21 and 30, the city received total 3,534 MT oxygen – which comes down to 353.4 MT per day. But supplies on Friday were particularly low, 312MT.