Chennai: Underlining that it is the government’s responsibility to provide oxygen to medical facilities, the Delhi High Court has come down strongly on the Centre, saying it seemed that ‘human lives are not that important.. for the state’.
‘Beg, borrow or steal. It is a national emergency,’ said the Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli.
‘How is the government so oblivious to the reality on ground? You can’t have people die because there is no oxygen,’ the court said while hearing an appeal by the Max Group, which had flagged oxygen crisis in two of its hospitals earlier in the afternoon. Slamming the Centre for still allowing industrial use of oxygen despite its Tuesday’s order, the court said, ‘This is really ridiculous. You are concerned with the industries while people die… That means human lives doesn’t matter for the government,’ the judges said.
‘We are shocked and dismayed that the government does not seem to be seeing the reality… What is happening? Why is the government not waking up to the reality,’ said the court.
‘Every 10 days, we have doubled the number of (Covid-19) cases and the fact of the matter on the ground is that there is a shortage of oxygen and it is evident to all. It is not that it is artificial or being wrongly projected. It is there. We cannot shut our eyes to it,’ the court said.