The Delhi High Court on Monday, 19 April, directed oxygen firm Inox to honour its contract with the Delhi government and hospitals in the national capital and continue to supply oxygen and restore 140 metric tonne supply immediately, reported ANI.
This came after the Arvind Kejriwal-led government approached the HC over the diversion of oxygen to other states by Inox.
“We direct Inox to honour its contract with GNCTD and hospitals in Delhi and continue to supply oxygen and restore 140 metric tonne supply immediately which shall in turn be supplied to needy hospitals in Delhi,” the court said on Monday, according to Bar & Bench.
The Delhi High Court also asked Centre to examine the availability of oxygen so that it can be diverted to areas where it is most required. The Centre will now file an affidavit on this, reported ANI.
The court also sought an affidavit on COVID beds allocated by the Centre.
It also directed that the Delhi government's direction on action against labs for not delivering COVID-19 test reports within 24 hours not be implemented, reported PTI.
Oxygen an Emergency, Says Kejriwal
On Sunday, Kejriwal had taken to Twitter to claim that Delhi’s oxygen supply was being diverted by the Centre to other states while the national capital itself faced an acute shortage.
“Del facing acute shortage of oxygen. In view of sharply increasing cases, Del needs much more than normal supply. Rather than increasing supply, our normal supply has been sharply reduced and Delhi’s quota has been diverted to other states. OXYGEN HAS BECOME AN EMERGENCY IN DEL (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted.
Kejriwal had also written to Union Minister Piyush Goyal about the oxygen shortage, claiming that the output by Inox, one of the biggest suppliers to hospitals in Delhi, had been largely diverted to other states.
He said that this disruption had started to cause a critical shortage across major hospitals in Delhi.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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