‘This isn’t a wave, it’s a tsunami’: HC pulls up Delhi over Covid preparedness

The Centre called the Delhi government a “cry baby” before the court and said it was the latter’s “incompetence” that led to the deaths of people.

The Delhi high court on Saturday asked the Centre and the Delhi government about their preparedness to deal with the peak of the second Covid wave expected by mid-May, terming the mounting cases a “tsunami” and warning that it will “hang any person” who tries to obstruct oxygen supplies to hospitals.

A patient, wearing an oxygen mask, sits outside Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) in New Delhi. (Reuters Photo )

Talking tough, a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said this during a special three-hour hearing on the escalating crisis in city hospitals on a day when 20 patients died at Delhi’s Jaipur Golden Hospital for lack of oxygen. The bench asked both the Centre and the Delhi government to “interact and co-ordinate” with each other for ensuring adequate supply of oxygen.

The Centre called the Delhi government a “cry baby” before the court and said it was the latter’s “incompetence” that led to the deaths of people. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, asked the Delhi government to manage the procurement and distributions of oxygen on their own and not depend on the Centre for everything.

“So far we have ensured that nobody in the country was left without oxygen. States and Union territories which do not have industries have also arranged for tanks but the Delhi government has yet not coordinated with the suppliers,” Mehta said.

The bench questioned the Delhi government over its citing of the shortage of cryogenic tankers to procure oxygen from Durgapur, Rourkela and Kalinganagar.

“We make it clear that the efforts the GNCTD (government of the national capital territory of Delhi) has to make in this regard cannot be trivialised, and they should not leave it entirely to the central government to act in this regard,” the court recorded in its order while directing the Delhi government to arrange tankers and other logistics for timely procurement of oxygen.

“Citizens cannot be allowed to die like this… In case cryogenic tanks are less in supply, we are hopeful that the Centre may work this out in coordination with the GNCTD, who cannot leave it completely on the Centre,” it said.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, said the city government did not have enough cryogenic tankers because Delhi is not an industrial state.

“We got 309 metric tonnes yesterday as against the 480 MT allocated by the Centre. It’s a chaotic situation with disorderly function. Some incidents are bound to happen. We fear we will lose many people... human lives are being lost every day,” Mehra said.

During the proceedings, four city hospitals — including Jaipur Golden, where the tragedy took place a few hours ago — complained that there was nobody to coordinate with them on oxygen and essential medicine supplies.

“We have already lost 20 lives. We are literally gasping for breath and pleading. The cases are slipping out of our hand. We are trying to ask every authority but to no avail,” senior advocate Sachin Datta for Jaipur Golden said.

The bench expressed concern over this as Mehra informed the court that the Delhi government had constituted a team of officers to coordinate with hospitals. As Mehra said the government was not getting information about the quantity of oxygen supplied from suppliers and re-fillers, the court directed the suppliers and re-fillers to give all such information to the city government.

During the hearing, the court also directed the Centre and the Delhi government to submit their plans on preparedness after it cited a report by IIT Kanpur predicting that the peak of cases would be hit in mid-May.

Mehta told the court that this was being considered and the country had to be prepared for the worst. He said steps had been taken to streamline the passage of oxygen and a strong message had been given to the suppliers in this regard by the top leadership.

The court also suggested providing Delhi Police security to hospitals as patients were being discharged from there due to the lack of oxygen supply.

“Let’s face the reality. If admissions aren’t being made, we know how people react. We don’t want a law-and-order situation. If riots break out at hospitals, what will happen? There are deaths taking place,” it said.

The matter will now be heard on Monday, April 26.