Delhi received 71% of SC-approved oxygen on Saturday, weekly average 76%, says oxygen bulletin

The Supreme Court had asked the Centre to ensure the availability of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis. It said that the Centre is under an obligation to ensure a daily supply of the said quantity of oxygen to meet the existing requirements of the national capital.

The Delhi government on Sunday said that the national capital received 499 metric tonnes of oxygen on May 8, which is only 71 per cent of the medical oxygen to be delivered by the Centre to hospitals in the national capital daily.

A worker refills oxygen cylinders for Covid-19 patients at a oxygen filling centre, in New Delhi on Sunday. (PTI Photo)

The oxygen bulletin was posted on Twitter by Raghav Chadha, the vice chairman of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and MLA from Rajinder Nagar.

The bulletin also had a section about the weekly average, which said that the average oxygen to be supplied to the national capital as per direction of the Supreme Court in seven days was 700 MT, while the average oxygen supplied to Delhi in the last seven days stands at 533 MT.

The oxygen supplied as a percentage of quantity directed by the Supreme Court in the past seven days is 76%, it further added.

The oxygen bulletin also said that the Delhi government received four SOS on Saturday. "Total SOS oxygen supplies on Saturday stands at 15.50 MT," the bulletin said.

The Supreme Court had directed the Centre to ensure the availability of 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis. It said that the Centre is under an obligation to ensure a daily supply of the said quantity of oxygen to meet the existing requirements of the national capital and directed that there shall be no reduction in the allocation and availability of medical oxygen to Delhi.

"We direct the Union of India to remedy the situation forthwith and to ensure that the direction issued by this court for the availability of 700 MT is strictly observed on a daily basis, pending further orders," the bench said in its order passed on May 6 and uploaded on Saturday.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday that Delhi received the court approved amount of oxygen for just one day, and that the Centre has failed to supply even 600MT a day after that. He urged the Centre to streamline its processes and ensure that all states and union territories receive oxygen in better quantities so that states don’t have to fight for oxygen supply.

Also Watch: ‘Delhi lockdown extended by a week till May 17’, says Kejriwal

Delhi witnessed a slight dip in Covid-19 cases with only 13,336 fresh infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the health bulletin by the Delhi government released on Sunday.

The Covid-19 positivity rate also dropped to 21.67per cent, the lowest since April 17.

The Delhi government has extended the ongoing lockdown for another week till May 17. Delhi has been under a lockdown since April 19 in view of the record surge in Covid-19 cases.