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Delhi government has ordered lodging of FIRs against four airlines — IndiGo, Vistara, SpiceJet and AirAsia India — for carrying passengers from Maharashtra to the national capital without valid RT-PCR reports.
It may be recalled that the Delhi government had mandated that airlines should check Covid-19 negative reports of flyers from Maharashtra. It had ordered that a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey shall be compulsory for all such persons who are arriving from Maharashtra to Delhi by air. The passengers who are found without a negative report will have to remain in quarantine for 14 days, the Delhi government had said.
Also read: Covid-19: Amid concerns about oxygen supply shortage, Centre sanctions 162 PSA plants
The Delhi government has now written a letter to the SHO of Indira Gandhi International Airport to lodge FIRs against these four airlines.
The Delhi government has now noted that a large number of passengers fly from Maharashtra to Delhi without valid RT-PCR reports, and therefore action has been initiated against the four airlines under the Disaster Management Act.
Two hospitals
After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s directions that stern action be taken against hospitals putting out wrong information about availability of beds, the Delhi Government has sought legal action against two hospitals.
Kejriwal had on Saturday given stern directions to all officials that every hospital should ensure correct information on bed availability on the Delhi Corona App and also on the hospitals’ LED boards. The Delhi government has appointed senior officials at these hospitals to look after these matters.
After receiving a complaint against a South Delhi hospital that denied admission saying no bed was available despite the Delhi corona app indicating 239 beds were vacant, the Delhi government ordered legal action against the said hospital. Similar action has been taken against another hospital in Janakpuri. While the app noted 93 vacant beds, they denied admission to patients claiming that they did not have any vacant beds for Covid-19 patients.
Delhi has been witnessing a sharp surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days and the national capital is now faced with shortage of ICU beds and oxygen.
Kejriwal writes to Goyal
Kejriwal
on Sunday wrote a letter to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal seeking his intervention in ensuring uninterrupted supply of 700 MT of oxygen on daily basis to Delhi and restoration of supply of 140 MT of oxygen by INOX to Delhi for effectively managing the Covid-19 situation in NCT of Delhi.
The letter highlighted that the output of INOX — one of the major suppliers to various hospitals in Delhi—has been largely diverted to other States. “At this critical juncture, it will not be possible for hospitals to enter into contractual arrangements with the new suppliers who have now been assigned to Delhi. This disruption is already starting to cause critical shortage across major hospitals,” Kejriwal said.
A sharp surge in the number of Covid-19 cases has led to a huge jump in demand for medical oxygen. The Commerce and Industry Ministry had projected a minimum requirement of 700 MT of oxygen on daily basis for NCT of Delhi.
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