'Health Min's reply shows Centre does n0t think O2 deaths are worth probing'

New Delhi: Referring to a letter sent to the Delhi government by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that the Central government had dismissed the need for investigating deaths that might have occurred due to oxygen shortage during the second wave crisis.

Sisodia had written to Mandaviya, reiterating that an investigation committee would be necessary to correctly present the number of deaths due to oxygen shortage and prevent such hideous mistakes in the future if there is another wave of the virus. He acknowledged that deaths had occurred due to oxygen shortage but said to determine exact figures, a committee must investigate.

After receiving the response, Sisodia alleged that the Central Government's "fraud on deaths due to lack of oxygen" has come out in the open with the Union Health Minister purportedly presenting false arguments to allegedly avoid a probe. The Central Government has been running away from the investigation because the public will see negligence and fraud if the deaths are investigated, the Deputy CM said.

"By saying that there is no need for a committee to investigate deaths due to oxygen shortage as the task force and subgroup constituted by the Supreme Court is investigating it, the Union Health Minister is lying shamelessly," he said in a digital press conference.

Neither the task force set up by the Supreme Court nor the sub-group formed in the states for the oxygen audit has the mandate to investigate the deaths due to lack of oxygen, Sisodia charged, adding the primary work of the task force and the sub-group is to configure the allocation of oxygen supply and other medicines.

The Union Health Minister in the letter has claimed that the mandate given by the Supreme Court for the National Task Force is related to deaths occurring due to lack of oxygen, but in fact, the 12-point agenda items as directed by the Supreme Court in the National Task Force are related to supply of oxygen to hospitals and recommendations and management for the future, Sisodia said.

Under the State Task Force of the Supreme Court, it is mentioned that the purpose of conducting audits is to ensure a measure of accountability for the proper distribution of oxygen supplies made available by the Union Government to the States and UTs.

"I want to ask the Union Minister that if the Supreme Court only had to investigate the deaths that occurred due to oxygen shortage, then why did the Central Government in the first place ask states to declare the number of deaths? What sort of drama is the Central Government doing?," Sisodia questioned.

He further said that thousands of people lost their lives due to the negligence of the Centre and its gross mismanagement of oxygen while PM Modi was busy campaigning in Bengal when he should have been arranging oxygen so he can't run away from the responsibility now.