Create a buffer stock of oxygen, Delhi high court tells Centre

On setting up oxygen buffer stock, the court said there is no clarity and the issue cannot be deferred for long in wake of the much anticipated third Covid wave.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday asked the Centre to create a buffer stock of oxygen even as it also expressed anguish on the slow pace of Covid-19 vaccination in the country.

The remarks by the bench came during a hearing on a bunch of pleas seeking better facilities to manage Covid crisis. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

“Today also in the vaccination we are lagging far behind. God knows whether we would achieve the target of December 31 that we have set,” a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said.

On setting up oxygen buffer stock, the court said there is no clarity and the issue cannot be deferred for long in wake of the much anticipated third Covid wave. “Today, the situation may look fine but then everyone saw what happened in April-May. There is no escape from this (buffer stock of LMO). This is like insurance,” the bench said

A total of 10,295,389 people were vaccinated till Tuesday in Delhi, according to HT dashboard.

The remarks by the bench came during a hearing on a bunch of pleas seeking better facilities to manage Covid crisis.

Delhi government’s counsel Rahul Mehra said they have a buffer stock of around 420 metric tonnes of LMO at different places with the suppliers and they will transfer the stock by August 31.