Citing health minister's letter, Delhi's deputy CM Sisodia claims Centre does not want probe into oxygen shortage deaths

Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has told them that there is no need to form a panel to probe oxygen shortage-related deaths in the national capital as the Supreme Court-appointed task force is there to look into the matter.

Sisodia said he had written to the Union Health Minister regarding the formation of the panel. Delhi LG Anil Baijal has twice rejected the city government's demand to form the panel, he said.

"The Health Minister has written to us saying that there is a Supreme Court-appointed task force to probe the matter and has said there is no need for a probe panel. But the task force has the mandate to probe the demand and supply issues for the pandemic," he said in an online briefing.


Mandaviya has said that out of the 12 points for reference for the SC panel, five are related to oxygen, the deputy chief minister noted and pointed out that none of these five points pertain to oxygen shortage-related deaths.

"Such a big fraud has never happened in the country. If the SC-appointed panel is probing the deaths, why did the Centre ask states to give data on oxygen-related fatalities," Sisodia said.

Centre does not want a probe into the deaths due to oxygen shortage because truth of their negligence will come out, he alleged.