ILNS: The Supreme Court on Thursday reiterated its earlier suggestion of creating a buffer stock of oxygen so that the supply of the gas remains sufficient for Covid-19 patients.
The bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice M.R. Shah was hearing the contempt proceeding, which arose by the order of the Delhi High Court, ordering the Centre to give an adequate supply of oxygen to Delhi.
Central government officer Sumita Dawra said: There is overall scarcity of containers. We are importing the containers from abroad. Delhi has received 730 MT oxygen yesterday. In some states, the cases are decreasing and therefore, those states should release the tankers.
Justice Shah: But, there is also increase in case some other cases. The increase is more than decrease of active cases.
Justice Chandrachud: The storage capacity in Delhi is 650 MT. How much oxygen is there in the storage facility in Delhi?
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said: This is an ongoing process, the storage facility does not remain filled or empty always.
Justice Shah: If buffer stock will be there, then there will be no scarcity of oxygen. In earlier order of our also, we have directed that there should be a buffer stock.
Dawra: Out of 478 MT of storage in hospitals, they are using 230 MT in a day. Therefore, they can use this 478 MT for two days.
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Justice Chandrachud: But you should refill the storage facility in hospitals, so that there is no shortage of oxygen.
SG: Either there is some lacuna in the supply of Central Government or State Government, hence there is need for oxygen audit.