Centre Vs Delhi turns murkier at the cost of human lives

The COVID situation in New Delhi is grim. This is the national capital’s fourth wave and it is overshadowing all the previous ones. Prior to this surge, things seemed under control. By mid-February, with 60,000 daily tests, Delhi was finding only 100-150 cases each day and one or two daily deaths.

Currently, almost 30,000 people are testing positive every day with over 250 recorded deaths in one day. Every third person being tested is turning out positive. Hospitals have run out of beds, oxygen and medicines. The people of Delhi have been forced to set out of their homes in the hunt for beds, oxygen and medicines.

Who is to be blamed for the current state of affairs in Delhi? Neither the Modi government at the Centre nor the Kejriwal government in the state want to take responsibility as they blame each other for the crisis that is getting worse by the day.

The Union government says the Delhi government delayed setting up of planned oxygen plants. The Union Health Ministry said, “In October 2020, eight pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants to be installed in Delhi with the support of the PM CARES fund and these are meant to enhance the capacity of medical oxygen by 14.4 tonnes. But proposed oxygen plants in four hospitals were delayed as the Delhi government did not submit site readiness certificates.”

The Delhi government said these are “outrightly false statements” from the Centre to “hide its abject failure in setting up of oxygen plants in Delhi.” The Delhi government issued a statement: “It is well known that the Union government decided to set up 162 PSA plants all over India and issued tenders in October 2020. The plants were to be set up by the Union Health Ministry through the PM Cares Fund, but not a single rupee was given to state governments. All these plants were supposed to have been installed by December 2020 and handed over to state governments. However, the Union government gave the contract for 140 of these plants to a single vendor, who ran away. As a result, across India, not even 10 of these 162 plants have been made operational to date.”

Delhi HC pulls up Centre and State

The Delhi High Court on Monday (April 26) pulled up both the Union and the Delhi governments over the oxygen crisis that has plagued several hospitals in the national capital and said the responsibility lies with them both.

During Saturday’s hearing, when the Arvind Kejriwal government said it received only 297 of the 480 tonnes of oxygen in its quota and that the Centre was not sticking to court’s guidelines, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Centre, said, “Let’s try and not be a cry baby”.

Delhi High Court said on Monday (April 26), “You (Centre) don’t seem to be taking into account the established supply chains. They were supplying to Delhi. You’ve made it 85 metric tonnes. Why should their tankers be held up in spite of your order?”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Delhi government counsel, “You intimate us. Criminal complaints can be registered. The home minister has issued an order that says treat oxygen tankers like ambulances.”

Also read: Central Vista project takes off, even as Delhiites die due to oxygen shortage

To this, the court said, “We fail to understand. We asked you to consider reworking allocation. All that was not done. 21 lives have been lost.”

However, Mehta argued that it was “not because of non-supply by me” and “it is not my job. It’s for the state.”

The High Court said, “It is both your jobs (sic). You can’t say it’s not my job.”

The Delhi government told the high court that oxygen refill agencies are not informing the government about the ground situation.

Also read: If COVID protocols aren’t in place, will not allow counting: Madras HC to EC

Politics at the cost of people’s lives

Oxygen supplier INOX, which supplies oxygen to most Delhi hospitals, told the Delhi High Court, “The Central government asked us to supply 80 MT in Delhi and the Delhi government is asking us to supply 125 MT. Now we are confused. We are receiving SOS calls from hospitals. This is back-breaking. The state government should at least clarify. We need some direction and help in this regard.”

Sources in the Centre and Delhi confirmed that there is zero or very little communication between both the governments on the supply of oxygen. “They simply want to prove each other wrong. No one wants to take the responsibility as the situation is going out of hands and people are dying,” a source said.

Aditya Chaudhary, a political analyst, told The Federal, “This is politics at the cost of lives. People are dying, but the governments are blaming each other. It is a shame. The Union government has horribly failed to stop the pandemic spread and the same is true with the Delhi government. It is very unfortunate that in India, the politicians never take responsibility but they blame one another. This is happening in this case as well.”