NEW DELHI: In face of the BJP’s accusation of “criminal negligence” citing a report that the Delhi government “exaggerated” oxygen requirement during Covid-19 second wave, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said his only “crime” was that he “fought for the breath of two crore people”.
Read AlsoCovid-19: Delhi inflated oxygen need by 4 times during peak, says SC panelThe SC oxygen audit team has put the Kejriwal government in the dock for exaggerating the oxygen requirement in Delhi by more than four times during the April 25-May 10 peak period of the second Covid-19 wave and informed the SC that supply of excess oxygen to the Capital could have affected supplyLIVE UPDATE: DELHI COVID He also said that those who lost their loved ones due to the shortage of oxygen should not be called “liars”.
Read AlsoDelhi: 22 more oxygen plants in Covid fightIn a major boost to medical oxygen infrastructure, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated 22 new oxygen generation plants virtually in nine hospitals on Saturday.A sub-group constituted by the Supreme Court to audit oxygen consumption in the national capital’s hospitals has said that the Delhi government “exaggerated” consumption of the life-saving gas.
Read AlsoThere’s no report approved by SC panel about Delhi inflating oxygen requirement, claims Manish SisodiaDeputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Friday claimed there is no report approved by the Supreme Court-appointed Oxygen Audit Committee about Delhi exaggerating its oxygen requirement by four times during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.The five-member panel, headed by AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, said that during the second wave of COVID-19infections, the Delhi government had made claims for allocation of 700 MT of oxygen on April 30 using a “wrong formula”.
After the report came to light, the BJP accused Kejriwal of “heinous crime” and “criminal negligence”.
In reply to the allegation, Kejriwal took to Twitter to say, “My crime — I fought for the breath of my two crore people.
When you were doing an election rally, I was awake all night arranging for oxygen.
I fought, pleaded to get oxygen for people.” “People have lost their loved ones due to lack of oxygen.
Don’t call them liars, they are feeling so bad,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
मेरा गुनाह-मैं अपने 2 करोड़ लोगों की साँसों के लिए लड़ाजब आप चुनावी रैली कर रहे थे, मैं रात भर जग कर Oxygen का इं… https://t.co/oKVHS8UTgb— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) 1624613136000BJP leaders, including East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir and former Delhi minister Kapil Mishra have slammed the Delhi government over the issue and demanded an apology over what they call is “criminal negligence”.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra termed it a “heinous crime”.
“Imagine the amount of criminality.
This is a heinous crime by Arvind Kejriwal.
This is criminal negligence as the panel says he sought four times more oxygen than required.
The report has exposed the politics he did to shift blame from his incompetence and failure to deal with COVID-19,” Patra said.
PTI SLB