Oxygen crisis: Delhi HC seeks Centre's response on not meeting allocated supply of oxygen in national capital

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Centre why is Delhi out of line with respect to other states in relation to the supply of oxygen.

During the hearing of the petition relating to various issues, including oxygen supply in the wake of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the national capital in the Delhi High Court, the amicus Rajshekhar Rao informed the Court that as of April 21, Madhya Pradesh has received around 545 MT of medical oxygen although they had asked for 440 MT.

Rao also informed that Maharashtra has received about 1616 MT medical oxygen against its demand of 1500 MT.

Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for Delhi Government apprised the High Court about other states which are getting within a range of 2-3 per cent of what they projected.

On this, the Court asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to take instructions from the Centre and file an affidavit on the supply of oxygen.

"By no means are we interested in getting for Delhi more than what is required and that too at the cost of any state," the court said.

Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, told the court that the Delhi government has been put in the dock when the Centre has failed miserably.

"Some responsibility must be fixed on the Centre. All are paper orders and there is complete apathy for citizens of Delhi," Mehra said.

The court directed the Centre to expedite the installation of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) plants in the national capital at the earliest.

Advocate Mehra further said that out of 8 PSA plants, two are already operational and two will be operational by April 30.

"For the rest, all permissions are given by the Delhi government but some authorities stepped in and said they need certain changes and approval once again from the government," Mehra added.

Rahul Mehra told the HC that they are augmenting 15,000 beds in the next one week and for that, it requires another 280MT of oxygen.

"Total oxygen requirement is 704 MT in Delhi," Mehra said.

( With inputs from ANI )