'Accountability should be fixed': Priyanka slams UP govt over 'deaths due to lack of oxygen'

A day after the Allahabad High Court observed that the death of COVID-19 patients due to non supply of oxygen to hospitals is a criminal act, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said the Uttar Pradesh government has continuously denied the lack of oxygen when the truth is that there have been many deaths due to it for which accountability should be fixed. In stern remarks, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday observed that the death of COVID-19 patients just for non-supply of oxygen to hospitals is a criminal act, "not less than a genocide" by authorities entrusted the task to ensure the oxygen supply chain is maintained.

In an apparent reference to the observation by the court, Priyanka Gandhi said the high court has shown the mirror to the government.

"The UP government has continuously denied the lack of oxygen. It has been threatening those flagging the lack of oxygen," the Congress general secretary said in a Facebook post in Hindi.


"While the truth is that continuously there have been deaths due to lack of oxygen and its accountability should be fixed," she said.

The observation by the court came over some news items doing the rounds on social media regarding the death of COVID-19 patients due to lack of oxygen in Lucknow and Meerut districts. The court also ordered a probe into the incidents.