Centre raises Delhi's daily oxygen quota to 590 MT

Amid an acute shortage of oxygen in Delhi hospitals, the Centre on Saturday raised the national capital's daily quota of life-saving gas to 590 metric tonnes from 490 MT.

According to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Delhi will get an additional 75 metric tonne of oxygen from LINDE Kalinganagar and 25 MT from JSW BPSL Jharsuguda (Odisha). With the new allocation, Delhi will get 590 metric tonnes of medical oxygen every day.

However, the Delhi government is demanding 976 MT of oxygen from the Centre due to spiralling cases of coronavirus in the city.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi's demand is 976 MT oxygen per day.

According to the official record, Delhi had got 305 metric tonnes of oxygen on April 25, followed by 408 MT on April 26; 398 MT on April 27; 431 MT on April 28 and 409 MT on April 29.

He said if the requirement is fulfilled, his government can increase 9,000 beds in the next 24 hours.

On Saturday, the Delhi High Court directed the Centre to ensure that the national capital receives its allocated share of the life-saving gas during the day and said ''enough is enough'', ''much water has gone above the head''.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said the Centre has to ensure that Delhi receives its allocated amount of oxygen ''by whatever means'' and warned that a failure to do so could lead to a contempt action.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)