Controversy over Oxygen Audit Report

TNI Bureau:  By criticizing the Delhi Government’s demand for liquid medical oxygen (LMO) at the peak of the second Covid-19 wave, an interim report of a sub-group appointed by the Supreme Court last month for the oxygen audit of Delhi has sparked a political tempest.

Dr. Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, is the panel’s chairman. Subodh Yadav, a joint secretary in the Jal Shakti ministry, Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja from Max Healthcare, Bhupinder S Bhalla, principal secretary, home, Delhi government, and Sanjay Kumar Singh, explosives controller at the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization, are among the other panelists .

The Supreme Court report caused dissension among the 5-member sub-group, with two members, BS Bhalla and Sandeep Budhiraja, voicing their opposition and were even missing at one of the group’s meetings. They expressed their displeasure in two different notes. Dr. Randeep Guleria sought to play it safe, saying it was an interim report and he can’t say if the Oxygen needs were exaggerated by 4 times.

Bhalla Friday emphasized in a file noting of the Delhi Home Department that the In a file noting of the Delhi Home Department, Bhalla Friday highlighted that the “interim report seems to have been sent to Government of India without making the requisite changes, without sharing again with the members of the sub-group, and without their formal approval”.

According to him his detailed objections/comments have been added at the end of the interim report just for posterity, leaving it to the reader to make the effort, if he/she so decides, to interpret the entire report together and make his/her conclusions. This is unfortunate and unacceptable.”

Following Chief Secretary Vijay Dev’s permission, the Delhi administration further told the SC-appointed panel that it was “sad and shocking to note that the sub-group arrived at sweeping conclusions… without any audit in the true sense.”

The BJP and the Congress attacked the AAP administration after the interim report was released on Friday, accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of “lying” during the second wave. “When you were addressing poll rallies, I spent sleepless nights to arrange oxygen,” Kejriwal retorted.

The variations in LMO demand for Delhi during the second wave peak, from the final week of April to early May, are attributable to two distinct formulas employed by the Centre and the Delhi government, according to the report.