After the Interim Oxygen Report prepared by a committee appointed by the Supreme Court said that Delhi’s Oxygen demand was four times the actual use, the Delhi govt has decided to defend themselves by claiming that no such report exists. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia addressed a press conference today after the interim report was reported by the media, and said that BJP leaders are attacking Arvind Kejriwal based on a ‘so-called report’.
He claimed that no such report exists that the BJP leaders are referring to, and the BJP leaders are lying. He claimed that the Delhi govt has talked to the members of the Supreme Court appointed audit committee, and they have said that they have not signed and approved any report. He challenged the BJP to show the report that has been signed and approved by the members of the Oxygen Audit Committee.
He alleged that the report was made in BJP headquarters, and it was being termed as oxygen audit committee report. He harshly criticised the BJP leaders for alleged falsehood against the Delhi govt.
However, as always, the AAP govt is lying, as the Interim Report does exist which has been reported by almost all media houses, including the left-liberal ones that keep attacking the Modi govt. While Manish Sisodia only targeted BJP for the report, media houses like NDTV, Times of India, Business Standard, India Today and others had published reports based on the same Interim Report of the audit committee.
Now it has come to light that the Delhi Government was already informed about the interim report of the audit committee three days ago, and a copy of the same was also sent to them. BJP leader Sambit Patra posted a copy of an affidavit filed by the union govt at the Supreme Court, where it was mentioned that the Sub-Committee for Delhi for oxygen audit has submitted an interim report, and a copy of the same had been forwarded to the Delhi govt.
Patra also posted the screenshot of an e-mail send to Delhi govt officials along with the affidavit on 22nd June.
BJP leader Vijender Gupta also informed that the interim report of the audit has already been submitted to the SC and a copy sent to the Delhi govt.
However, Manish Sisodia continued to claim that the report does not exist, and claimed the report that was submitted at the Supreme Court was prepared at the BJP office. He said that he will take up the matter at the SC.
OpIndia has accessed the report, and it can be confirmed that the report does exist, contrary to the claims of the Deputy CM. However, as it is only an interim report, it has not been signed by anyone. But the entire report is based on the minutes of several meetings held by the sub-committee with various officials, and those minutes have been included in the report as Appendix A. All those minutes are signed by Dr. Vijaydeep Siddharth, Hospital Administration, AIIMS Delhi.
The minutes of the meeting held on 14th May show that Committee had found the Delhi hospitals were submitting wrong data, based on which the Delhi govt was making exaggerated demand for oxygen. After correcting the wrong data, the Committee had found that the demand was 4 times the actual consumption. The minutes also mention how tankers had to wait long times as there were not enough storage capacities to store liquid medical oxygen in Delhi.
Therefore, contrary to the claims of the Delhi government, the sub-committee appointed as per Supreme Court order to audit Oxygen demand and consumption in Delhi has submitted its interim report, and a copy of the same has already been sent to the Delhi govt. As it is an interim report, it has not been signed by the committee members. However, it is unlikely that the final report will be much different from the interim report.
The fact will remain that the Delhi govt was demanding much more oxygen than what was required by it, which has been proved by several different aspects. Other states with similar Covid-19 case loads were using far less oxygen compared to Delhi. It was found that despite demanding more oxygen, Delhi govt was unable to store them, and the tankers had to wait for hours as the tanks were already full, which has caused a disruption in the oxygen supply chain in entire north India.
