In a letter addressed to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has asked him to resolve the pending orders of medical oxygen tanks, vaporisers and cylinders that are lying with the manufacturers in Gujarat. Till that happened, in spite of the state being a surplus manufacturer of oxygen, Jharkhand was unable to supply the medical oxygen to high-demand states. 

“I have been informed that many of our orders of LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen) tanks, vaporisers and cylinders are pending with manufacturers in Gujarat,” Soren wrote in the letter to Rupani.

“I seek your assistance in getting the concerned manufacturers to expedite the delivery of the aforementioned orders. This would allow us to make oxygen available to hospitals and subsequently the people who desperately need it. I request you to intervene on our behalf and help ensure the timely delivery of LMO tanks, vaporisers and cylinders to Jharkhand,” he wrote.

Also Read: Haryana, UP withholding supplies despite Centre increasing Delhi’s oxygen quota – Dy CM Manish Sisodia

Meanwhile, while hearing the suo motu proceedings to take stock of the COVID19 situation in the state, the Gujarat High Court told the state government that it has received information about lack of transparency in the state’s functioning.

“We are getting inputs that things are not working in a transparent manner. You (Attorney General) should be getting more inputs than what we get,” Chief Justice Vikram Nath told Attorney General Kamal Trivedi.

The case is being heard by a bench consisting of the Chief Justice Nath and Justice Bhargava D Karia.

Also Read: Indian govt issues order under the Disaster Management Act for “uninterrupted supply of oxygen”

In the wake of the worsening COVID19 situation in the state, the Gujarat High Court had accepted a public interest litigation (PIL) to take suo motu cognisance of the crisis and tabled the first hearing in the case on April 12.

With the Chief Justice and the counsels expressing dissatisfaction at the state’s response to the crisis, the Attorney General said, the state was aware of the unprecedented situation it was dealing with. He added that the state was conscious of what it had to do and was open to suggestions. 

Justice Karia also questioned the Attorney General about the preparedness of the state government vis a vis the expected rise in the number of COVID19 cases by May. He asked what steps the state government planned to take when the number of COVID positive cases doubled. Justice Karia also sternly pointed out that only Ahmedabad was being mentioned in the matter. “What about the rest of Gujarat,” he demanded to know.  

Also Read: ‘Delhi right now is starved of oxygen’: Senior advocate for Delhi govt informs the Delhi HC

Justice Karia also raised the issue of doctors allegedly refraining from accepting patients who arrived at the COVID19 centres in vehicles other than the ‘108 ambulance service’ which is provided by the state government.

He said it did not matter what vehicle the patients arrived in. The doctors had no right to refuse them just because they did not use the ambulance, the Justice emphasised. 

Meanwhile, while counsel Shalin Mehta proposed the idea of a lockdown to break the chain of COVID19 infections in the state, the Gujarat High Court stated that lockdown is not a solution.

“This is not Germany or New Zealand,” the bench stated.