In HC, Delhi govt says suppliers too far as Centre agrees to look into this aspect
New Delhi: As Delhi and the Centre continued arguing over restoring the required supply of medical oxygen to the Capital's hospitals, which have been keeping patients alive on a day-to-day basis, the main argument by the Delhi government against the Centre's increased allocation of 480 MT was that a large amount of this supply is to come from Kalinga, Rourkela and Durgapur, which would be too late.
In addition to this, when the Delhi government revealed to the court that not one supply tanker had reached Delhi on Thursday, he added that the supplier in Haryana had stopped responding to calls. This happened even as hospitals in Delhi struggled to arrange oxygen and some even ran out.
"In a nutshell, there are different plants spread across India...I'm not saying intention is not there but due to distance, we are not getting oxygen...80 to 100 metric tonnes has been received. The amount we need is far far more," senior advocate Rahul Mehra submitted for the Delhi government.
Informing the bench about the situation at two hospitals, Saroj Super Speciality and Shanti Mukund Hospital, Mehra said that the hospitals will soon run out of oxygen. "Everything is being stopped in UP, Haryana. We are not able to contact INOX...Tirath Ram Hospital will run out of oxygen by 6 pm today...people are going to lose their lives," he argued.
Meanwhile, Additional Standing Counsel Satyakam told the court, "Physically it is not possible for supplying of oxygen from places almost 1500 km away from Delhi...100 litres were allocated from Durgapur, Kalinga".
Asking the Centre on what steps it has taken since its April 21 order directions supply of 480 MT of oxygen to Delhi, Justice Vipin Sanghi remarked: "At least plants that are nearby...you should ensure that supply is realised in terms of assurance given yesterday...they are calling up Inox".
On this, Mehra responded by submitting that he has got to know through a message that an Air Liquid Plant at Panipat was allowing oxygen only for Haryana and some state authorities inside the plant.
Further, the counsel went on to suggest that liquid oxygen should be air-lifted from the three faraway places so that it can reach in time but the court was quick to point out, "Air-lifting oxygen is a very dangerous thing. It has to be either through rail or roads...they can't carry filled containers," the court stated.
"We had 140 mt arrangement with Inox historically. This was reduced to 60. This is a plant near Delhi...Inox should have been asked to increase supply instead of reducing it," Mehra submitted while pointing to a tweet by Apollo Hospitals JMD Sangeeta Reddy where she says that there's a tanker outside the Panipat plant which is not being allowed into Delhi.
Assuring the court of ample oxygen supply, Sumita Dawa, Additional Secretary (Industries), told the court that priority is being given to Delhi over Dehradun on supply of oxygen from Rudrapur.
"...right now we are facing is that your allocation is not being respected by states. Local administration is obstructing transportation. Centre has to immediately respond...what is the point of paper allocation...let Inox continue to supply to Delhi and let Panipat plant supply to Haryana," Justice Sanghi said.
Later in the hearing, when the court came back to the oxygen crisis, it remarked, "We are wondering how oxygen will reach Delhi from 1,400 kms away. One aspect is by road but that would take days and days and the railways is already doing what it can.
Eventually, when Mehra again brought up the issue of allocating suppliers in a criss-cross manner, the court noted that this needed to be looked into as the SG said, "The allocation from three places (Kalinga, Rourkela and Durgapur) will be looked into with utmost sincerity we can assure you of that.". The submission were duly recorded by the court before it moved on to address the next Covid crisis.
