New Delhi: The Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi and Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh had under-estimated their respective daily oxygen needs during a mapping exercise held with the central government at the beginning of this month.
However, while the Centre allocated nearly 93 per cent of the UP govt’s revised requirements for oxygen, Delhi got just 54 per cent of what it had asked for.
According to data provided by the Centre in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court Thursday, Delhi had revised its estimate by over 133 per cent, while UP’s demand surged by 100 per cent within a few days.
In the 200-page affidavit, the Centre said ‘to assure that states were supplied oxygen over the next few weeks of surge in cases, an exercise for mapping of sources of supplies to the medical oxygen demand of the critically-affected states was undertaken jointly by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW), Ministry of Steel, various critically affected states, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) along with key stakeholders including the representatives from major oxygen manufacturers, All India Industrial Gas Manufacturers Association (AIIGMA).”
The requirements of states have been mapped according to their respective required quantity and sources of oxygen, the Centre said.
Delhi, UP government oxygen projection
During the mapping conducted through video conference meetings between 11 April to 14 April, the states were requested to indicate their projections for requirement for medical oxygen based on expected active case load by duly factoring in the guidelines issued by the health ministry.
The Delhi government projected that it would need 300 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen daily by 20 April, 349 MT by 25 April, and 445 MT by 30 April.
Similarly, the UP government projected the need for 400 MT, 650 MT and 800 MT by 20, 25 and 30 April, respectively.
Other states also made their projections (see graph below).
According to these projections, the Centre stated that a mapping of supplying a total of 4880 MT, 5619 MT and 6593 MT were made for 20, 25 and 30 April.
However, both Delhi and UP later revised their estimates by 133 per cent and 100 per cent respectively, as Covid cases surged.
Rajasthan too had to revise its needs by a little over 17 per cent.
Additionally, the governments of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand also requested the Centre to allocate 350 MT, 400 MT and 75 MT for their states respectively for 20 April.
As a result, the total oxygen needs for the worst-affected states were revised by over 33 per cent.
Oxygen allocation to states
The data provided by the Centre also shows that it failed to allocate oxygen to the required states despite the demand placed by them.
In a letter dated 18 April, included in the affidavit, Delhi was allocated 378 MT of oxygen — just a little over half of its projected requirement.
For UP, the Centre allocated 751 MT — 93 per cent of the revised requirement.
According to the initial projections by Delhi, the national capital will require 445 MT of Oxygen on 30 April. In a letter to state health secretaries dated 26 April, the Centre said has increased Delhi’s allocation to 490 MT.
Meanwhile, during a High Court hearing Thursday, Delhi said it will need up to 1,000 MT of oxygen in the coming days.
Also read: MP, Maharashtra got more oxygen than asked, Delhi got far less, explain why, HC asks Centre