Delhi government on Thursday blamed ‘jungleraj’ by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as the main reason behind the oxygen shortage crisis in Delhi and urged the Centre to intervene in the matter, immediately.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that despite the Centre’s increased oxygen allocation to the national capital, government officials and Police of the two states were not allowing the oxygen supply to leave for Delhi.
“The major reason behind Delhi’ oxygen crisis is ‘jungle raj’ for the oxygen by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Their government officers and police are not letting supply from their oxygen plants come to Delhi. Our officers spoke to theirs and I tried to speak to the Centre but things are not changing on the ground,” Sisodia said.
He further said that this was not the time to fight but to be united.
“When the Central government yesterday increased Delhi’s oxygen allocation and fixed the same for other states too, why are the governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh behaving as if they have some dispute with Delhi? This is not the time to fight each other but to be united,” he said.
As of yesterday, before the Centre increased the oxygen quota allocated to Delhi from 378 MT, only 177 MT reached here because of the ‘dadagiri’ of the UP and Haryana Police, Sisodia alleged.
“Out of 378 MT, as decided by the Centre, only 177 MT could be delivered to Delhi because of the gross misconduct of Haryana and UP Government officials in stopping oxygen delivery to Delhi,” he said.
Sisodia also recounted on Tuesday, the UP police and state officials had not allowed the delivery of oxygen to Delhi, and yesterday, supply was stopped once again in Haryana.
He has appealed to the Central government to intervene in the matter, while a letter from his office has been sent to the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan for immediate intervention.
The minister also said that if need be, deploy paramilitary forces for the protection of the Oxygen tankers.
“With folded hands, I appeal to the Central government to intervene in this matter. Since the state police are involved in stopping these oxygen tankers, please intervene even if you need to deploy paramilitary forces,” he added.
Over the last few days, the national capital’s health infrastructure has started to crack under the weight city’s fourth Covid-19 wave. The worsening Covid-19 situation has seen a surge in the demand for medical oxygen and beds for the Covid-19 patients as many hospitals’ essential medical supplies have plummeted.