L-G again rejected request for panel to probe O2 deaths: Delhi Dy CM Sisodia

On August 16, Sisodia sent a file to Baijal’s office for the second time, seeking approval for setting up an expert committee to probe cases of Covid-19 deaths caused by oxygen shortage and sought Union home minister Amit Shah’s intervention

Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal has once again rejected the Delhi government’s request for approval to set up an expert committee to investigate instances of deaths caused by shortage of oxygen in Delhi during the last wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in April and he accused the central government of “mismanagement”.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. (File photo)

“It is irrefutable that there was an oxygen crisis across several states, including Delhi, during the Covid-19 wave in April-May ...and it needs to be investigated... But the L-G has once again refused to give approval for setting up an expert committee to investigate death caused by oxygen shortage... While the Centre is collecting data from states on deaths because of oxygen shortage, they are not letting states investigate such deaths. It only shows that the Centre is trying to run away from the issue to hide its own mismanagement, which led to the oxygen crisis in the first place,” said Sisodia in a video press briefing on Friday.

On August 16, Sisodia sent a file to Baijal’s office for the second time, seeking approval for setting up an expert committee to probe cases of Covid-19 deaths caused by oxygen shortage and sought Union home minister Amit Shah’s intervention.

At its peak, Delhi recorded around 28,300 cases in a day and the positivity rate exceeding 36% on April 20 and 22. Around that time, at least 31 people are believed to have died because of oxygen shortage in two separate hospitals – Jaipur Golden and Batra hospitals.

On May 4, the Delhi government told the Delhi high court that an expert committee could not ascertain whether 21 deaths at Jaipur Golden Hospital had happened because of oxygen shortage. Later, health minister Satyendar Jain said it was a “preliminary report”.

In June, the Delhi government proposed another expert committee to ascertain the number of deaths caused by oxygen shortage in the Capital during the last wave of the pandemic but Baijal did not give it approval, citing a similar committee set up by the Union government – eventually leading to a tussle between the elected government of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and the L-G, who is an appointee of the Centre.

On July 20, the Centre told the Parliament that states recorded no specific cases of deaths caused by oxygen shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic. With that, the AAP government in Delhi revived its demand for setting up its own expert committee on the matter.

However, dismissing Sisodia’s claims as “misleading”, a senior official in the L-G office said: “The statements made by the Deputy CM are misleading. Neither the L-G nor the Government of India has said that deaths due to oxygen shortage should not be probed. What has been said earlier on 6.7.2021 and repeated on 19.8.2021 is that a high level committee constituted as per SC directions, where apart from senior and reputed doctors, the ACS (health), the government of national capital territory of Delhi is also a member, is already looking into the matter. It has submitted its interim report and is working on the final report. The L-G as well as the health minister, GoI, have reiterated that the said committee should be allowed to do its work. Setting up another committee for the same purpose will only create confusion. The government has also been advised to follow the directions of hon’ble courts in the matter.”

This story will be updated when the BJP and the Centre react to Sisodia’s claims.