The Delhi government exaggerated the city’s oxygen requirement by four times during the peak of the Covid crisis in April-May and the supply of excess oxygen “affected other states”, a Supreme Court audit team said in an interim report.
Delhi Government sources say there is “no such report” and call it “a mischievous attempt”.
“The Delhi government’s claim of 1,140 Metric Tonnes was four times the calculated consumption as per the formula based on bed capacity, which was 289 MT only,” says an interim report of a sub-group appointed by the Supreme Court.
The Delhi government’s data said from April 29 to May 10, the consumption of oxygen did not exceed 350 MT. It claimed the average consumption of oxygen in Delhi was between 284 to 372 MT and the infrastructure was inadequate for storing 700 MT, the amount that the Supreme Court had ordered the Centre to supply to Delhi.
However, the audit revealed “The excess supply of oxygen affected other states in need of oxygen.”
“It was discussed that there is a gross discrepancy (about 4 times) in that the actual oxygen consumption claimed (1140MT) was about 4 times higher than the versus calculated consumption by the formula for bed capacity (289MT),” the report says on discussions in the sub-group.
The Delhi Government told the sub-group that data captured on its official portal was more reliable than data submitted in forms created specifically by the sub-group and the actual consumption, according to the Delhi government portal, was 442 MT. The interim report will be taken up by the apex court on June 30.