Delhi oxygen audit committee report does not exist: Manish Sisodia

New Delhi, June 25: Countering allegations, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said that the Supreme Court appointed oxygen audit panel members have not okayed any report stating that the national capital requisitioned four times the oxygen it required during the second wave.

"BJP leaders have been talking about a so-called report which states that there was no O2 shortage in Delhi during COVID peak and Delhi exaggerated its O2 requirement by 4 times. Let me tell you that the report BJP has been quoting doesn't even exist," Sisidia told reporters.

"Supreme Court constituted Oxygen Audit Committee has not approved any report yet. Then, which is this report that BJP leaders have been quoting? I challenge BJP to bring this report signed by members of Oxygen Audit Committee," he added.

"There is no such report. We have spoken to the members of the Oxygen Audit Committee formed by the Supreme Court. They said they have not signed or approved any such report.

"The BJP is presenting a false report that it prepared at its party headquarters. I challenge them to present such a report which has signatures of the members of the oxygen audit committee," Sisodia said.

By doing this, the BJP is not abusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, but "those who lost their family members due to oxygen shortage when coronavirus cases were at its peak, he said and accused the Union government of mismanagement "which led to the oxygen crisis".

Citing a Supreme Court-appointed audit panel''s report, the BJP on Friday said the Delhi government "inflated" its oxygen requirement during the second wave of COVID-19 by four times and accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of "heinous crime" and "criminal negligence".

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra cited the report to note that the Delhi government had demanded 1,140 MT of the life-saving gas during the peak of the second wave even though it could utilise 209 MT.

The requirement was 351 MT even if the panel went by the Delhi government''s formula while it was 289 MT according to the central government''s estimate, he said, adding that only 209 MT was expended while Kejriwal projected an requirement of 1,140 MT.

"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 claimed.

Delhi was hit severely by a brutal second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in April and May, claiming a massive number of lives daily, with a shortage in oxygen supply at various city hospitals adding to the woes.