Acting on a tip-off, Faridabad police have arrested one Congress leader named Bijendra Mavi for his alleged involvement in black marketing of oxygen cylinders. A case was registered against the Congress leaders under various sections including the Disaster Management Act after the police found 50 oxygen cylinders from his house at Indra Complex Colony, Faridabad, Haryana. Police informed that the accused had hidden the oxygen cylinders in his car.
According to reports, Khedipul police were patrolling on Tigaon Road, Faridabad, when their informer tipped them off about the Congress leader’s involvement in black marketing of oxygen cylinders. Based on the information provided, police conducted a raid. Drug control officer Sandeep Gahlan was also present.
On checking the Congress leader’s vehicle, 42 empty and 8 filled cylinders were found. The police asked Mavi to produce the license and required permits for the oxygen cylinders. When the accused could not produce valid documents, police took him into their custody and seized the 50 oxygen cylinders.
On interrogation, the Congress leader confessed to his crime. He informed that earlier he used to work in a private oxygen cylinder supply company. Owing to the shortage of oxygen supplies in various states amid the Covid-19 surge, the Congress leader started to supply the cylinders in private hospitals on his own. He procured these cylinders from various dealers in Faridabad and supplied them to private hospitals.
The accused confessed that when he supplied oxygen cylinders to the hospitals, he use to secretly take out some gas from each cylinder and refill it in empty cylinders which he then black marketed.
Faridabad police investigating the case informed that the Congress leader would be produced in court and his remand would be sought. A through investigation would be conducted in the said case, confirmed the police.
Black marketing of medical oxygen becoming rampant amid Covid surge
After Remdesivir drug, other sought-after items sold in the black market for profit amidst the existing COVID crisis are medical oxygen cylinders, concentrators, and flowmeters. Recently, several cases of black marketing of oxygen concentrators and medical equipment have recently come to the fore. Owing to this, mostly all states have in the last few days, stepped up actions against illegal hoarding of oxygen cylinders and its black-marketing.
Comedian Sanket Bhosale and the Kapil Sharma Show fame actress Sugandha Mishra, who had recently got married in a private ceremony in Punjab, have been booked by the Congress-led Punjab government for allegedly violating Covid-19 norms.
According to the reports, the comic-duo was booked nine days after their wedding for allegedly breaching the Punjab government’s Covid restrictions during their wedding event on April 26, 2021. In addition to the couple, the Punjab government has also booked the manager of the Club Cabana Resort, where the event took place.
The couple – Sanket Bhosale, and wife Sugandha Mishra, have been booked under the Disaster Management Act and section 188 of IPC for violating the official orders. The Punjab police had booked the couple based on a video of their wedding that had gone viral. Speaking to the media, Phagwara SP Sarabjit Singh Bahia said that they registered a case on Wednesday based on the clip.
Reportedly, the wedding was a private affair, attended only by family and close friends only amid pandemic. However, the Punjab government filed an FIR against the couple for allegedly flouting Covid-19 rules. As per the rules, not more than 10 people can attend any wedding events.
Sanket Bhosale is a comedian, mimicry artist and actor. The versatile actor rose to fame by performing impersonation acts of Bollywood actors like Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan. Meanwhile, Sugandha Mishra is a comedienne, a singer and a television host. She has played various characters in the comedy show – The Kapil Sharma Show and has also appeared in numerous other TV shows.
FIR comes after Sanket Bhosale had featured in an ad that mocked Rahul Gandhi
Interestingly, the FIR against Sanket Bhosale comes just a week after he had come in the line of fire of the Congress party for featuring in an advertisement that allegedly mocked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Recently, Mumbai based beverage company Storia Foods & Beverages Pvt. Ltd had released a light-hearted advertisement to market its new range of milkshakes. The company recently launched its first-ever 360-degree marketing campaign, “Wish it never gets over”, for their range of Storia Shakes.
One of such ads had featured characters which appeared to be making fun of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Actor Sanket Bhosale was featured as a politician in the ad, and his character’s dialogues mimicked some of Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi’s political speeches.
As the Storia ad went viral on the internet, the Congress party took offence and had gone on a rampage, vandalising the Mumbai-based beverages’ Andheri East office in Mumbai last week.
Despite strict Covid-19 restrictions being in place in Maharashtra, several Congress workers had barged into the office of the Mumbai based beverage brand and vandalised the entire office premises. The glass windows of the office were shattered, while the office chairs and table were tossed around.
#WATCH Congress workers held a protest today at the #Mumbai office of Storia Foods over the company’s recent advertisement allegedly mocking Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi
A week after the vandalism by the Congress workers in Mumbai, the Congress-led Punjab government has now booked comedian Sanket Bhosale, the actor featured in the advertisement, over the allegations of violating Covid-19 regulations during his wedding.
On Thursday (May 7), Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the latter had called to inquire about the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic in the State. It must be mentioned that PM Modi had rung Lieutenant Governors of Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, besides the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh to review the ongoing vaccination drive and increase production of vaccines in the upcoming months.
In a tweet, Hemant Soren alleged that PM Modi did not listen to him and chose to give a ‘monologue’ instead during the telephone conversation. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called today. He only spoke his mind (Mann ki baat). It would have been better if he had talked something useful or listened to something useful that I had to offer.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Hemant Soren
Citing sources, Indian Express reported, “The Jharkhand CM’s angst was palpable. PM Modi did not ask anything on the condition of the state and on resources and what all the state needed. The state has been struggling to get the required medicines. He just went on and on. This led the CM to write this tweet.” Reportedly, Hemant Soren had been supposedly miffed at the Union government for not including it in the list of places where new 581 Pressure Swing Adsorption medical oxygen generation plants are being set up.
While the Prime Minister had called the Chief Ministers personally to take stock of the ongoing pandemic and the problems faced by the states, the Jharkhand CM seems to have taken this opportunity to play politics instead and indulge in public grand-standing.
While opposition parties have targeted the Prime Minister in the most uncouth manner on several occasions, turning an administrative call into a public spectacle can be considered a new low.
BJP hits back at Hemant Soren
BJP MLA from Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, slammed the Jharkhand CM for his disrespectful tweet towards the Prime Minister. In his tweet on Friday (May 7), he wrote, “Your tweet is not only against undignified, but also mocks the suffering of the people of Jharkhand. PM Modi had called to learn about the challenges faced by the same people. You have done a petty job. You have lowered the status of the CM’s post.”
आपका यह ट्वीट न सिर्फ़ न्यूनतम मर्यादा के ख़िलाफ़ है बल्कि उस राज्य की जनता की पीड़ा का भी मजाक़ उड़ाना है जिनका हाल जानने के लिए माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी ने फ़ोन किया था। बहुत ओछी हरकत कर दी आपने। मुख्यमंत्री पद की गरिमा भी गिरा दी https://t.co/AIm0V6uc17
Arvind Kejriwal live telecasts closed-door meeting with PM Modi
Earlier, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also tried to pull off a similar stunt. Last month, he went live during a closed-door meeting between Prime Minister Modi and the Chief Ministers of high burden states. The Prime Minister himself was not happy with Kejriwal for breaking protocols and chastised the Delhi CM for it. A video had emerged where Prime Minister Modi was offering a strong rebuke to Arvind Kejriwal for breaking protocols. He told Kejriwal, “You have broken a very important protocol, such private conversations are never televised. It is not proper, we should always observe decorum.”
The Delhi CM was seen apologising in the video. Initially, he responded callously saying, “Okay, sir. We will keep it in mind in the future.” Realising that he had committed a major mistake stepping over the line, he said, “If I have committed any mistake, if I have said anything untoward, if there was anything wrong with my conduct, I apologise for it.” Sources in the central govt had earlier said that the Delhi CM used the PM-CM conference on Covid-19 as a platform to play politics.
An air ambulance operated by Jetserv Aviation made a belly landing at Mumbai airport after it had lost a wheel during take-off from Nagpur airport. The aircraft going to Hyderabad from Nagpur made an emergency landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai today evening.
The air ambulance of Jetserv Aviation operating a Beechcraft King C-90 aircraft VT-JIL had lost its front wheel while departure from Runway 32 of Nagpur Airport. The wheel got separated from the aircraft and fell on the ground. The aircraft was then diverted to Mumbai and it circled over the airport while the personnel at the airport prepared the ground for a belly landing, by readying a foam carpet on runway 27.
A Jet Serve Aviation C-90 aircraft VT-JIL was operating an Ambulance flight from Nagpur with patient on board. While departing, a wheel separated & fell on ground. Aircraft landed in Mumbai. Crew confirmed they did a belly landing (no landing gear taken out), foam put on runway. pic.twitter.com/euUIyfQRp5
In this procedure, fire suppression foam is sprayed on the runway to prepare a foam layer, on which an aircraft can land on its belly. In case of belly landing, the landing gears of an aircraft are not deployed, and the aircraft lands on its belly. Therefore, the foam layer helps to prevent fire on impact, as the metal body directly hitting the runway creates sparks.
The air ambulance was carrying 5 people including 2 crew members, 1 doctor, 1 patient, and 1 paramedic onboard, all of whom were evacuated safely after the plane landed. Ahead of the landing of the aircraft, a full emergency declared at the Mumbai airport for the non-scheduled flight. The runway 27 of the Mumbai Airport was foamed before the aircraft landed.
The aircraft landed at 9:09 PM on Thursday, Mumbai Airport authorities confirmed. The airport’s emergency response team including the fire and rescue responders, follow-me vehicles, CISF, medical team and others were activated instantly and they were on standby to provide immediate assistance to ensure the safe evacuation of the passengers.
This video captures the crucial moments after belly landing of the ambulance flight on foam carpet in Mumbai after it lost a wheel during takeoff from Nagpur.
All onboard are safe. Kudos to the crew & ground professionals.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri praised pilot Kesari Singh for showing presence of mind and landing the aircraft safely. He also appreciated the efforts of DCGA, Mumbai Airport and others involved in the operation.
The second wave of COVID-19 has devastated India. Ever since the second wave of the pandemic started, the healthcare system in India has been teetering on the brink, with many hospitals unable to handle the relentless inflow of patients whilst also running short of beds, oxygen cylinders and other essentials. In these trying times, many brands and organisations have stepped forward to help India.
One such NGO which has been at the forefront in extending crucial help at the time of this crisis is RSS affiliate Sewa Bharti. As the first wave of the pandemic, this time too, the RSS offshoot has been working relentlessly, extending its helping hand to the needy at the time of this crisis.
While the NGO has been working tirelessly, Neha Dixit, a journalist working for leftist media outlets like ‘The Wire’ and ‘Caravan’ has taken to Twitter to cast aspersions on the RSS offshoot. Dixit, in her Tweet, claims that Sewa International “traffics children from tribal areas to indoctrinate them”, besides “supporting the BJP govt’s massive crimes”.
‘Journalist’ Neha Dixit’s Tweet
For the uninitiated, Rashtriya Sewa Bharti and Sewa International both are part of the same non-profit organisation affiliated to RSS. While Rashtriya Sewa Bharti operates nationally, Sewa International has volunteers working both in the US and India, coordinating the work of raising funds, procuring medical equipment supplies, and getting these to hospitals and institutions.
We at OpIndia got in touch with Sewa Bharti’s Delhi chapter head Ramesh Agarwal, who opined that Sewa Bharti remains unfettered by such frivolous claims. “Such propaganda and lies do not affect us”, said Agarwal furthering: “we are not mulling any action against the journalist, in fact, Sewa Bharti takes no notice of such flippant remarks”.
Sewa Bharti is a philanthropic organisation that beliefs in “Sewa/serving people”. “We believe our work speaks for us”. Agarwal said that Sewa Bharti volunteers’ have been taught to ignore and move on. “Woh kya kehte hain hume koi farak nahi padta. Hum choti line ke sammne badi line khichne mein viswaas rakhte hain”. (we are not affected by what such people say. We believe in karma. Our work automatically puts them in place), said Agarwal.
It becomes imperative to note here that ‘The Wire’ journalist had in 2016 also written an article for The Outlook where she had accused the two Sangh outfits, namely Rashtra Sevika Samiti and Sewa Bharati of tricking and trafficking 31 young tribal girls from Assam to Punjab and Gujarat to ‘Hinduise’ them.
Though Sewa Bharti chose not to respond riled social media users were in no mood to spare the leftist writer. They schooled Dixit for spreading blatent lies about an organisation which has been genuinely working endlessly in Delhi and across the country helping people in distress amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Shame on you. SEWA Intl USA is a bonafide organization with highly committed people. In the past, I’ve seen their work with Bhutanese refugees & during Hurricane Harvey when they rebuilt houses. They’ve been recognized for their awesome work. People have complete faith in them!
Meanwhile, speaking about the relief work Sewa Bharti has been carrying out during the second wave of the pandemic, Ramesh Agarwal informed that the NGO has started “Pranavayu Sewa” facilities outside many Delhi hospitals for patients critically in need of oxygen.
Under this initiative, the NGO has converted hundreds of APML’s Household Trucks as Portable Medical Vans to provide oxygen to the people under the supervision of experienced medical staff.
The oxygen van facility provided by Sewa Bharti has four beds installed in the cargo container, along with the arrangement of oxygen cylinders, masks and other essentials. This entire campaign has been named “Oxygen Service, Pranavayu Aapke Dwar”.
Outside the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi, on the very first day of this service, within a few hours, corona patients who were in need of immediate oxygen supply started benefitting from it.
COVID-19 patients in Delhi being administered oxygen from Sewa Bharti’s portable vans
This initiative aims to provide the necessary oxygen supply to COVID patients from the time they reach the hospital premises till the time they get a bed in the ward.
Sewa Bharti is soon preparing to take this arrangement to many other hospitals in Delhi.
Besides, the organisation is also providing home delivery of oxygen cylinders at the doorstep of the Covid-19 patients who are under home isolation. Though this service is absolutely free, the organisation is collecting a nominal amount as a refundable deposit for the safety of the cylinders.
While the outfit is truely doing a comendable job by providing oxygen to needy patients as Delhi is facing an acute shortage of medical oxygen due to which many patients lost their lives, this is not the only relief work undertaken by the NGO.
We reported how Sewa Bharti cadres stood resolute with the refugee families at the Majnu Ka Tila camp at the time of the crisis. During the conversation with OpIndia, the refugee families discussed their problems, struggles, challenges and how they have been facing them. However, they also said that they have not received any help from the AAP government. They confirmed that the people from RSS and Seva Bharti helped them from the beginning and continued to provide support even during the pandemic.
Sewa Bharati, the social service wing of RSS
The organisation Sewa Bharati is headquartered in Delhi, from where the relief work is being carried out across the country. From distributing food packets to manufacturing masks at war footing and reaching out and distributing at places facing a scarcity to distributing bed sheets and blankets to providing basic medicines, Sewa Bharati cadres have been in the forefront in extending crucial help to the needy at the time of this pandemic. Moreover, almost 2.10 lakh cadres have been reaching out to the remotest corners of the country in order to extend their assistance.
Sewa Bharati running 45 kitchens in Delhi alone
Almost 5,000 cadres have been feeding 75,000 Delhiites on a daily basis. So far the food they are providing is made out of 45 kitchens spread across Delhi. Once the food packets are ready, their zonal teams distribute them among the needy in their area.
Sewa Bharati has also been distributing milk and beverages to patients and hospital staff at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the morning, according to Mr Ramanathan.
45 kitchens of Sewa Bharati are functioning in Delhi alone. The advice of doctors and government is also being taken care of while rendering these services. Social distancing is being followed. All the volunteers have been instructed to wear masks and gloves along with frequent usage of hand sanitizer while distributing as well as preparing the food at the kitchen.
Their cadres are also collaborating with temple trusts like the Jhandewalan Temple in the national capital where hundreds and thousands of meals are served each day.
Cricketer Irfan Pathan has found himself in hot water today when a video accusing him of being in an illicit extra-marital affair went viral. The video depicts Syed Ibrahim, the aged father-in-law of the girl in question, who accused his daughter-in-law of being in an illicit affair with the cricketer.
“She has an affair with cricket Irfan Pathan, she sleeps with him”, said Syed Ibrahim in the video about his daughter-in-law, saying that she herself has admitted to the alleged affair.
इस वीडियो को इतना वायरल कीजिये कि पुलिस मजबूर हो जाये क्रिकेटर इरफ़ान पठान के ऊपर कार्यवाही करने को pic.twitter.com/IHctYQsW4B
Syed Ibrahim, a retired police officer from Ahmedabad, accused Irfan Pathan of putting pressure on his son to let the affair continue. He also alleged that the police are not willing to take their complaint because of the political pressure that Irfan Pathan exerts on prominent officers. The aged Syed Ibrhamin was accompanied by his wife in the video, both threatening to commit suicide if they don’t get justice. The Police have now booked a case against the couple for threatening to commit suicide.
According to Vejalpur Police in Ahmedabad, the daughter-in-law has already filed a dowry case against Syed Ibrahim and his son on 11 March 2021. The police are currently investigating the matter. In the meanwhile, Syed Ibrahim’s family has accused the daughter-in-law of filing a false dowry case and being in an illicit relationship with Irfan Pathan.
Actually, the daughter-in-law of Syed Ibrahim is a cousin sister of Irfan Pathan. According to Syed Ibrahim’s son and husband of the woman in question, the relationship between his wife and Irfan Pathan goes back a long time ago and has continued even after marriage. According to the son, his wife and Irfan Pathan talk through video-calling regularly, and that his wife goes on dates with Irfan Pathan in secret. When all of this was revealed to the family, the girl filed a dowry case against them, according to the son.
After Syed Ibrahim’s video went viral, the newspaper Dainik Bhaskar attempted to get a comment from Irfan Pathan, but his mobile phone was switched off.
Ever since the second wave of COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in India, many states have been facing a shortfall in oxygen supplies. While most of the states are trying to emerge out of the quandary, Delhi Government has failed miserably to tackle the crisis.
For the last several days, the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal has been saying that Delhi requires at least 976 MT of oxygen every day to cater to the oxygen crisis in the national capital, which the central government have not been able to provide them with.
In fact, on April 29, Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had written to Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, saying that Delhi needs 976 MT of oxygen daily as the government is increasing the number of beds for Covid patients.
➡️Increase Delhi’s oxygen allocation from present 490 MT to 976 MT
➡️In spite of the additional allocation made about 10 days ago, Delhi has not received even for a single day, the allotted quantity pic.twitter.com/vUfAkD2TWu
On May 4, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Raghav Chadha once again shared an oxygen bulletin for Delhi on Twitter wherein it was stated that Delhi had received only 433 metric tonnes (MT) oxygen on Monday against its requirement of 976 MT – which comes to 44 per cent of the requisite amount to mitigate the crisis.
In fact, for all this while, the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal has maintained that Delhi needs a daily supply of at least 976 MT of oxygen to emerge out of the crisis in the national capital. The party leadership have been pinning the blame on the central government for not providing them with the required 976 MT of oxygen. But after the city-state was supplied with 730 MT of oxygen yesterday following court orders, now the CM is saying that they have enough oxygen to open thousands of new oxygen beds.
Arvind Kejriwal says he can open thousands of new oxygen beds
Amidst all this hullabaloo, Arvind Kejriwal, today, somehow gave the game away when he confirmed that Delhi’s total oxygen requirement is 700 MT and not 976 MT as claimed by his party leaders all this while. Kejriwal today thanked the Centre for supplying Delhi with 730 metric tonnes of oxygen. Kejriwal said Delhi received 730 MT of oxygen on Wednesday and the city would require a daily supply of 700 MT till the second coronavirus wave lasts.
“If 700 MT of daily oxygen supply is ensured by the Centre, Delhi government can set up around 9,000-9,500 more oxygen beds”, he said.
This means, while the govt was demanding 976 MT oxygen for existing hospitals in Delhi, the 700MT of oxygen itself will be much more than what the hospitals in Delhi needs now, as the state will have extra oxygen to open almost 10,000 new oxygen beds. One wonders here that if Delhi’s daily requirement of oxygen was indeed not more than 700 MT and is actually much less than that, as confirmed by the CM himself, what made the party leaders concoct a superfluous figure all this while. Why was the Delhi government demanding 976 metric tonnes of oxygen from the Centre? In fact, Kejriwal himself had with folded hands, urged the Centre to provide 976 tons of oxygen to them daily.
With the CM saying that they can set up 9,000-9,500 more oxygen beds with the 700 MT oxygen per day they will be receiving, it implies that their existing demand is not even 700 MT, as they are talking about setting up such a huge number of oxygen beds. Because according to their calculation, they will be having enough extra oxygen after meeting its current demand in Delhi hospitals.
With Kejriwal’s latest revelation, it becomes evident that the Delhi government had been inflating figures merely because it wanted to shift the blame on the central government. In the given situation, one is forced to believe that people are dying in Delhi lesser because of the inadequacy of oxygen but mostly because of the sheer incompetence and zero coordination efforts from the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Delhi’s demand is four times the consumption by Mumbai for similar COVID-19 cases
Interestingly, while the Delhi govt is claiming that it is receiving less than half of what it needs, the fact is that the quantity received by Delhi is more than what Mumbai consumed at a similar number of active Covid-19 cases.
On Thursday, the division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni heard multiple Public Interest Litigations (PILs) regarding the management of COVID-19 in Maharashtra. The issues covered by the PILs included frequent hospital fires, availability of Remdesivir, electric crematoriums, the surge of COVID-19 in prisons, etc.
During the hearing, advocates for the petitioners brought up various shortages, shortages of medicines like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, etc. Upon hearing this, Chief Justice Datta referred to an SC order, stating that three alternative drugs work better than Tocilizumab.
In reference to the Remedsivir shortage, the Chief Justice gave another suggestion. The Chief Justice asked the Attorney General to find out whether Tocilizumab is an alternative to Remdesivir. And if it is, wide publicity can be given, the CJ said.
It may be noted that Dexamethasone is a steroid, while Remdesivir is an antiviral medication. The cost of Dexamethasone is significantly lower than Remdesivir, and if it is found to be effective, it will lower the cost of Covid-19 treatment. But this is a matter to be dealt with by medical experts based on studies and trials. According to currently available information, Dexamethasone should be administered only in case of serious Covid-19 patients.
Later in the hearing, the Chief Justice stated that no one can be allowed to profit from the sale of essential drugs and directed the Central and State governments to “put their foot down”. “India is not a country for foreign companies to make profits like this,” said Chief Justice Datta.
CJ – None can be allowed to profit from the sale of essential drugs. It is you central government and state government. You have to put your foot down. India is not a country for foreign companies to make profits like this.#BombayHC#Covid19#PIL#Remdesivir#Tocilizumab
Chief Justice Datta said that the court will monitor the Covid situation in Maharashtra throughout the summer vacation of courts. Next hearing on COVID-19 PILs in Bombay HC to held Wednesday.
During the hearing on oxygen supply to Delhi in Supreme Court today, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that if oxygen is provided to Delhi as per the demand of the Delhi govt, other states will suffer. He said that if the centre supplies oxygen to Delhi in excess, other states who need it will not get it.
SG: This needs to be equitably utilised by all States. The position of Delhi for 700 is not the factually correct position. In order to supply this, other States are suffering. It may result to adverse consequences in other States beyond the capacity of Centre.
He said that the demand of Delhi govt for 700 MT of oxygen per day is not a factually correct position, if this quantity is supplied to Delhi, other states will suffer. It may result to adverse consequences in other States beyond the capacity of Centre, he added.
However, the court rejected this argument, and insisted that the central govt must deliver 700 MT oxygen daily to Delhi till Monday.
Justice Chandrachud: Right now we are all in the dark, and all we hear is whatever is happening on the ground. You have to respond to us like you did last evening. You have to continue with 700 till Monday. #OxygenShortage#SupremeCourt
To this, the SG said that if the centre is forced to give 700 MT to Delhi, they will have to take it from other states. But the Delhi govt advocate Rahul Mehra objected to it, listing out names of states which have got oxygen as per their demand. Amicus curiae Jaideep Gupta also said that the daily allocation to Delhi should be retained at 700 TM till a new formula for calculating oxygen allocation is prepared.
Although both the Supreme Court and the Delhi govt is instating on 700 MT oxygen per day, the argument of the SG that other states will suffer due to this seems to be correct. It may be noted that the demand by Delhi is almost four times the other states are using for a similar number of active Covid-19 cases. For example, while Mumbai was using around 240 MT oxygen for around 90000 active cases, Delhi was demanding 700 MT for a similar number of active cases, and later raised that demand to 976 MT per day, and was using almost double of what Mumbai was consuming.
Even the Supreme Court had noted that Delhi is using much more oxygen compared to Mumbai for similar number of active Covid-19 cases.
Due to the increased pressure from the courts, the central govt is increasing the oxygen supply to Delhi, and yesterday 730 MT was supplied after the Delhi High Court threatened to proceed with contempt of case against the central govt if the amount is not supplied. But this has started to affect the supply in neighbouring states as oxygen has been diverted from those states to Delhi.
The diversion of Oxygen to Delhi seems to be beginning to adversely affect other states such as Rajasthan, J&K, Punjab, Gujarat, Jharkhand etc. These states have reported significant increases in active Covid-19 case counts compared to 2 weeks ago, with the case count more than doubling in J&K and Rajasthan. But the active case number remained stable in Delhi during this period.
State / Union Territory
21-04-2021
28-04-2021
05-05-2021
Jammu and Kashmir
13,470
22,283
37,302
Jharkhand
33,178
51,252
59,707
Punjab
36,709
51,936
61,935
Rajasthan
85,571
1,55,182
1,97,045
Gujarat
84,126
1,33,191
1,48,297
Delhi
85,364
99,752
90,419
Active Case Count
On 5th May, Rajasthan Medical & Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that the State was getting 200 metric tonnes less than its requirement of liquid oxygen. A day before that, the Rajasthan CM had said that that “most people” are in need of oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds.
Jharkhand is already supplying Oxygen to Delhi, but the state is beginning to feel shortage. As per media reports, at least seven districts in Jharkhand have Oxygen shortage. In Ranchi, some private hospitals stopped taking patients, according to district officials, and oxygen was also in short supply in Jamshedpur, where several hospitals stopped taking in new patients despite having vacant Covid beds. Similarly, several hospitals in Haryana also have reported oxygen shortage.
On May 6, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) issued a statement that a section of media has been distorting its April 19 letter to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). In its report, FICCI said that since they submitted the note, a lot has changed, and the respective state governments have taken the necessary actions to deploy unused ventilators.
FICCI’s letter of April 19 to @ndmaindia has been distorted in some sections of media & we consider it necessary to set the record straight: FICCI President Mr Uday Shankar.#FICCISpeakspic.twitter.com/wX4pNZW4F0
The relevant paragraph that has been used by media houses says, “It has been observed that most of the 40,000 ventilators manufactured under the PM Care Fund last year have been lying unused at government facilities either due to shortage of intensivists ( specialist healthcare professionals) or due to lack of oxygen supply and consumables.”
FICCI said, “Since we submitted the letter, a lot has changed, and the state governments have taken action and redeployed them and are providing oxygen and expert professionals to deploy these ventilators.”
The association further clarified that they never suggested any negligence on the part of the government. Their suggestions were designed to spotlight the better utilization of critical resources as the second wave had started to rise at that time. “a lot of ground has been covered by all the governments in the last three weeks,” they added.
FICCI further added that any suggestion pointing fingers at any government – central or state- is either ill-informed or mischievous. “FICCI is committed to working closely and constructively with the centre and all the state governments to help the country in this moment of crisis and strongly disapproves of any attempt to point fingers at this time,” they said. While urging everyone to work together, they said, “The nation is faced with an unprecedented challenge, and all of us must work together to save lives and save livelihoods.”
Misleading reporting by Times of India
On May 3, the Times of India published a report stating over 40,000 ventilators produced under PM CARES Funds have been lying unused across the country while aid has been coming from foreign nations. The report suggested that there was a lack of coordination and negligence on the ground that led to such mismanagement. A screenshot of the e-copy of the information was shared by the TOI journalist Rupali Mukherjee.
Tweet by Rupali Mukherjee
The report added, “In a recent communication to the National Disaster Management Authority, Industry chamber FICCI said most of the 40,000 ventilators manufactured under the PM CARES Fund last year have been lying unused at government facilities either due to shortage of intensivists or due to lack of oxygen supply and consumables.”
Report by Rupali Mukherjee published in TOI
A clipping of the report was further posted by M K Venu, Founder Editor of the Left-leaning news agency The Wire.
Misleading tweet by The Wire’s M K Venu
In a Tweet, he said, “FICCI has written to Centre saying most of 40000 ventilators manufactured under PM Cares Fund last year are lying unused at government facilities. Mainly due to negligence & lack of coordination. We have reached a point where the right-hand does not know what right hand is doing!”
