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Sisodia writes to HM on O2 deaths panel
Deputy chief minister writes to Union home minister, urges him to issue directions to LG to approve the committee to probe oxygen-related deaths
Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday said that the he has written to Union home minister Amit Shah, urging him to issue directions to lieutenant governor (L-G) Anil Baijal to approve expert committee investigation to determine the numbers of deaths due to shortage of oxygen during the Capital’s fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in April-May.
Sisodia, in a video statement, said that a file concerning the matter has been resent to Baijal’s office on Monday, and urged that there be more “transparency” in the matter. The Union home minister’s and L-G’s offices did not respond to requests for a comment.
In his letter to Shah, Sisodia called it an “irrefutable fact” that shortage of oxygen caused deaths during the recent wave of the pandemic, according to a copy seen by HT. He also alleged that the central government acted in a “hurry” while claiming in Parliament last month that states reported no deaths caused by the shortage.
“Deaths caused by shortage of oxygen in Delhi cannot be denied and the Delhi government is in favour of getting it probed. The Delhi government formed a committee for that and the file was sent to lieutenant governor. Today, I have sent the file again to him. We need a probe on the matter. I have highlighted deaths caused by oxygen shortage in a country’s capital in the 21st century is a big thing. As a responsible government, we should not run away from such questions. If needed, we have to improve our systems. Good governance demands more transparency,” said Sisodia on Monday.
Sisodia confirmed he had written to Shah. “I have also written about the matter to the Union home minister. We are aware that the central government is also collating data on deaths caused by oxygen shortage. But the numbers cannot be ascertained without a probe. I requested him to issue directions to the lieutenant governor to approve the setting up of an expert committee on oxygen deaths so that we can share accurate details with the central government and use the findings for better governance in future.”
The Union home ministry and the lieutenant governor’s office did not comment on the matter.
At its peak, Delhi recorded around 28,300 cases in a day on April 20 and the positivity rate exceeded 36% on April 22. Around that time, at least 31 people are believed to have died because of oxygen shortage in two separate incidents in two hospitals – Jaipur Golden and Batra. 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 that it was a “preliminary report”.
In June, the Delhi government proposed another expert committee to ascertain the number of deaths caused by oxygen shortage 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 the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and the lieutenant governor, who is an appointee of the Centre.
On July 20, the central government 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.
“It is an irrefutable fact that during the dreaded second wave of Covid-19 many citizens lost their lives due to shortage of medical oxygen in the country including Delhi during the months of April and May 2021… The Delhi government, realising its responsibilities and accountability towards the family of those who had lost their relatives due to Covid-19 had constituted a high-level committee of medical experts to investigate the incidents in death in Delhi due to lack of oxygen. But unfortunately, the lieutenant governor of Delhi stopped the formation of the high-level enquiry committee at that time,” said Sisodia’s letter sent to Shah on Monday.
It further said, “After the issue (of deaths caused by oxygen shortage) was raised in the Parliament, an email was sent by the Union government to all state governments on the evening of July 26 seeking data whether any data is being maintained by them about the deaths due to shortage of medicines, medical equipment, medical oxygen, medical oxygen cylinders, etc… In a hurry on the basis of records made available or non-available, (the) union government in a hurry claimed that no death had occurred due to shortage of oxygen in the country during the second wave of the pandemic. It appears that the government of India does not want to face the truth and somehow hide the deaths that happened due to shortage of medical oxygen.”
