Report on Delhi govt inflating O2 requirement turns Kejriwal emotional; CM defends effort

As the BJP slammed the Delhi Government for allegedly inflating the national capital's Oxygen requirement during the second wave of COVID-19 by four times, CM Arvind Kejriwal has asked the BJP not to disrespect the citizens of Delhi who have lost their loved ones during COVID.

Kejriwal took to Twitter to issue a rather emotional response saying, "My crime - I fought for my 2 crore people. When you were doing an election rally, I was awake all night arranging for Oxygen. I fought, pleaded to get people oxygen. People have lost their loved ones due to the lack of oxygen. Don't call them liars, they feel so bad."

AAP vs BJP over Oxygen audit

A report on oxygen audit from April 10 to May 21 conducted by Supreme Court-appointed panel was released on Friday which pointed out discrepancies in the oxygen consumption data calculation and the oxygen demand by the Delhi Government throughout the period, affecting the oxygen requirements of other states. The report submitted by the five-member panel constituted by Supreme Court, claimed that Delhi had inflated its oxygen demand by four times its consumption between April-May.

The report further stated that the average daily consumption of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in Delhi is 284 MT to 372 MT and the national capital had inadequate infrastructure for storing 700 MT of LMO.

Delhi Government had submitted a rebuttal which is also mentioned in the report, saying "data pertaining to the LMO storage capacity in hospitals of Delhi is not consistent with our records." The Delhi Government said it had an LMO capacity of 670.03 MT capacity in 89 hospitals plus 94.1 MT capacity from cylinders in those hospitals.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia lashed out at the BJP saying no member of the oxygen panel set up by the SC had signed any such report adding that BJP was only busy abusing CM Kejriwal.

"BJP is abusing Arvind Kejriwal continuously. I want to present the truth that there is no such report. The O2 audit is saying that they did not approve any such report. Is any such report signed and approved by the O2 audit committee? The matter is ongoing in Supreme Court. We all know there was an oxygen crisis in April. You make reports in BJP headquarters," said Sisodia.