As crisis rages, HC tells Delhi govt, Centre to coordinate
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Saturday asked the Delhi administration and the Centre to work together to ensure oxygen supply in the Capital as the Capital city continued to be overrun by a deluge of Covid-19 cases and a public health crisis in the past few days.
The high court also said it will “hang any person” found to be obstructing the supply of oxygen, with hospitals in the city sending distress calls for the element that is crucial for treating critically ill Covid-19 patients.
Terming the current wave of infections as a “tsunami”, the bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli directed the Delhi government to arrange tankers for the transportation of liquid oxygen needed for the treatment of critical Covid-19 patients after four hospitals -Maharaja Agrasen, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Saroj Super Speciality and Batra Hospital moved the court saying that they had only a few hours of oxygen supply left.
The HC also asked the Centre and the Delhi government to submit a report by April 26, the next date of hearing, with regard to their plan to augment medical infrastructure to deal with the expected peak of infections in the city.
Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that it does not have cryogenic tankers to procure liquid oxygen from the three plants situated in West Bengal and Orissa.
He added that as of midnight on Friday, the city had received only 309 MT oxygen against the 480 MT allocated by the Centre.
“We got 309 metric tonnes yesterday. This is also trickling. Inox’s supply has been affected and we have been given Air Linde. IAS and DANICS officers have jumped it and there’s a chaotic situation with disorderly functioning. The alloca
tion of 480 should be practically applicable,” Mehra said, adding that the government has constituted a team to coordinate with hospitals in the city.
The hearing witnessed heated arguments between Mehra and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, on this issue.
While Mehra told the court that Delhi was not an industrial state did not have access to tankers, the solicitor general said various states are making arrangements for converting existing tankers for storage of oxygen or are procuring the same from other sources, and the Delhi government too should make an endeavour in that direction.
The court said the responsibility of procuring the tankers should not have been left completely on the Centre, and both of the governments should
have worked it out among themselves.
“There is a communication gap. There is a perception gap. The problem is that you think that allocation has been made so everything will be served at your doorstep but that’s not how it works. After allocation have you made any effort for the tankers to collect the oxygen? The producers do not have the wherewithal. You should have put a system in place,” the bench noted.
The court further also asked the Centre when the 480 metric tonne (MT) of oxygen per day allocated for Delhi would see the light of the day. “You (Centre) had assured us (on April 21) that 480 MT per day will reach Delhi. Tell us when will it come? We want a definitive date. The 480 MT per day is still to see the light of the day,” the bench said.
The high court directed the suppliers and re-fillers of oxygen to give to the Delhi government nodal officer the details of the oxygen supplied by them to the various hospitals in the city, saying “there has to be transparency”. It said the information should include how much oxygen was supplied to each hospital and when.
A direction was also issued to the Delhi government to communicate to all the hospitals and nursing homes the details of its new team -- comprising 10 IAS and 28 DANIPS officers -- constituted for monitoring the oxygen distribution in the national capital.
The court came down heavily on the Delhi government, indicating that the administration needs to be more proactive.
“You had to speak to the suppliers in the last three days. You knew where the supply was coming from. Get in touch with the suppliers. We cannot help you at every moment,” the bench told the Delhi government.
“Citizens cannot be allowed to die like this…In case cryogenic tanks are less in supply, we are hopeful that the Centre may work this out in coordination with GNCTD, who cannot leave it completely on the Centre,” it added.
Slamming the Delhi government, the court said that when every state was arranging its own tankers, the city government should also have taken efforts to ensure that the tankers reached the production plants.
“Every state is arranging its own tankers, if you don’t have your own tanks, arrange them. You will have to do it, get in touch with the central government officers. We are not here to facilitate contact between officers,” the court remarked during the proceedings.
During the three-hour long hearing, the court also sought to know from the Centre and the Delhi government about preparedness.
“We are calling it a wave, it is actually a Tsunami…Now we want to know what have you done with respect to the preparedness, number of beds, oxygen, etc?” it asked.
THE COURT SAID WHEN EVERY STATE WAS ARRANGING ITS OWN TANKERS, THE CITY GOVT SHOULD ALSO HAVE TAKEN EFFORTS TO ENSURE THAT THE TANKERS REACHED THE PRODUCTION PLANTS.