Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday has accused the Union Government of lying on the oxygen shortage in the country.
Taking to his official Twitter account, Chidambaram said, "Government is maintaining the lie that there is no shortage of oxygen. Every day, there are true-life stories of hundreds of people desperately trying to find oxygen cylinders for their near and dear ones."
"I have a story, my friends have many stories. Indian Youth Congress had a great true life story on May 1. An intolerant Minister S. Jaishankar was quick to resort to abuse, but records and Facebook posts called his bluff. Why do otherwise intelligent ministers become bhakts?" he further lamented.The Ex-Minister was referring to the incident of the New Zealand High Commission.
On Tuesday, the Delhi government approached the Centre over the allocation of medical oxygen to the national capital, saying it received only 433 metric tonnes (MT) oxygen on Monday against its requirement of 976 MT – which comes to 44 per cent of the requisite amount to mitigate the crisis.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Raghav Chadha said that 41 hospitals in the national capital sent SOS calls for oxygen on Monday through various mediums, including social media, phone calls and helplines.
Several states have claimed that they have a shortage of beds and oxygen in hospitals. Lack of oxygen is claiming thousands of lives every day, while the second wave has proven to be deadlier than before that is affecting young people this time. Meanwhile, high courts have been hearing pleas on oxygen shortage and have directed the Centre to be sensitive about the situation and make sure that the oxygen crisis is being managed properly.