Guleria terms oxygen audit report ‘interim’

Sub-group member says consumption figure was a collation of data for one day

The audit by the Supreme Court-appointed sub-group on Delhi’s oxygen demand is an interim report and not the final word, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said on Saturday as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, under fire for purportedly exaggerating the city’s needs, insisted that acute shortage of oxygen during the second wave of COVID-19 was “real”. He also appealed for an end to political bickering. “The virus will win if there is a fight among stakeholders,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted a day after his Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP hit out at each each other over the report. While the BJP accused the Delhi government of “criminal negligence”, AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the “bogus” report was “cooked up” at the BJP office. Dr. Guleria, who heads the five-member sub-group, said: “It is an interim report. The oxygen needs are dynamic and change from day to day. The matter is sub judice.”