Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the Centre has denied approval to the committee that was constituted by the Delhi Government to investigate the deaths of Covid patients due to oxygen shortage in the national Capital.
Sisodia said, “As all of you know, there was an oxygen crunch during the last wave of Covid-19 in Delhi. There were also some deaths due to lack of oxygen supply. The Delhi Government had announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the families of those who lost their lives in the incident. Following the directive of the court, the Delhi Government constituted a committee of health experts to look into the incident and ascertain what led to these deaths.”
“It is extremely saddening that the Central Government has dismissed this committee. I do not understand why the Central Government has an issue with the same,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister further said, “As a responsible Government, the Delhi Government wants to offer compensation to the families of those who died and also investigate and confirm what led to these deaths. The Central Government is not letting this happen. Why does it like to obstruct any good step or work being done by the State Governments?”
He remarked that this is not just about Delhi but in many other States including West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand, too, the Centre is obstructing the work of the State Governments. “There have been many incidents of unnecessary interference by the Central Government”, he said, adding that the Centre should not have any issue with a State Government offering compensation to families of Covid patients who lost their lives due to lack of medical oxygen.
“This decision to dismiss the committee is unreasonable and without any logic. I would like to request the Central Government to stop such interference,” he stressed.
Sisodia appealed to the Central Government to stop their unnecessary intervention. “The people of Delhi want the Government they elected to work without any obstructions but the Central Government has continued to act as an objector against the rights of the people.”
Responding to Sisodia, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that Sisodia is playing dirty politics on a sensitive matter like compensation for patients who died due to failure of oxygen supply.
“The Centre has dissolved a compensation committee formed by the Delhi Government on May 27. The fact of this matter is that the Supreme Court of India had already formed a committee with regards to compensation for oxygen deaths on May 6, 2021 consisting of Dr Randeep Guleria, Dr A Budhiraja and Joint Secretaries from the Centre and the Delhi Government,” he added.
“The Supreme Court appointed committee had been working for 10 days when the Delhi Government decided to form a separate committee on May 27,” he added.