New Delhi: Opposition parties slammed the central government after its claim in the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were specifically reported by states and UTs during the second Covid-19 wave.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said people whose relatives died due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic should “take the Union government to court”.
Raut said, “Many people have died due to oxygen shortage in several states. Those whose relatives (Covid-19 patients) died due to oxygen shortage should take the Union government to court.”
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said there have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country.
“If there was no shortage of oxygen, why did hospitals move court? Hospitals and the media had been flagging oxygen shortage issues daily. Television channels showed that how hospitals were running out of the life-saving gas. It is completely false to say that no one died due to oxygen shortage. There have been many deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi and many other places across the country,” he said.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday attacked the Centre over its statement that there were no deaths due to lack of oxygen during the Covid second wave, alleging that the fatalities happened because the government increased oxygen exports in the pandemic year and did not arrange tankers to transport it.
Hitting out at the government, Priyanka Gandhi said, “‘No death due to lack of oxygen’: Central Government. The deaths happened because — in the pandemic year, the government increased oxygen exports by about 700 per cent.”
“No initiative was shown in setting up oxygen plants in hospitals,” she said.
