After Health Minister Mandaviya's counter, Sisodia claims Centre gave only 12-14 hrs to file data
Oxygen shortage deaths
New Delhi, Aug 11: The Centre gave only 12-14 hours to the Delhi government to furnish data on deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second COVID-19 wave, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday, a day after he had claimed no such communication was received by it.
Sisodia's statement came after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya questioned the Delhi government's claim of not having received any letter from the Centre inquiring about deaths due to oxygen shortage and tweeted the communication sent by his ministry on July 26 in this regard.
In the communication received by the Delhi government on July 26, the Centre gave time till noon of the next day to file the data, a mere 12-14 hours time frame, Sisodia said in response to Mandaviya's tweet.
Sharing a snapshot of the mail sent to the Delhi government on Twitter and addressing Sisodia, Mandaviya had earlier in the day said it is not too late and he can send the data by August 13 so that the health ministry can reply to Parliament on the issue.
Sisodia claimed the time given till August 13 was not mentioned in Centre's letter.
"It was never mentioned that the data can be submitted by August 13. If there is any such letter that says so then it must be shown by the Centre," Sisodia said in a statement.
The Delhi government will "soon" submit a report to the Centre on the issue of deaths due to oxygen shortage in Delhi, he added.
Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister of the Delhi government for COVID-19, had on Tuesday claimed that the Delhi government had not received any letter from the Centre inquiring about deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second COVID-19 wave.
Last month, opposition parties had hit out at the government for informing the Parliament that no deaths due to oxygen shortage have been specifically reported by states and Union Territories during the second COVID-19 wave.
The central government at a press briefing on Tuesday said only one state has till now reported "suspected" deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of COVID-19 after the Centre sought the data from them on such fatalities following the raising of the issue in Parliament.
"When the question was raised in Parliament, states were specifically asked this question and as per reports received only one state mentioned suspected death and no state has so far said that there were deaths because of oxygen shortage," Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal had said while replying to a query.
According to the sources, 13 states and UTs including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have responded to the query by Tuesday.
They said only Punjab has reported four "suspected" deaths due to oxygen shortage.
There were reports of deaths of COVID patients due to a shortage of oxygen in some hospitals in Delhi during the second wave of Coronavirus in April-May this year.
माननीय सिसोदिया जी,
— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 11, 2021
26 जुलाई को मेरे मंत्रालय ने दिल्ली सरकार को जो मेल भेजा है, ये रही उसकी कॉपी।
अभी भी देरी नहीं हुई है! 13 अगस्त तक आप डेटा भेज सकते हैं ताकि हम प्रश्न का उत्तर संसद को भेज सकें। अपने अधिकारियों से समीक्षा करके जरूरी डाटा जल्द से जल्द भिजवाने की कृपा करें। https://t.co/EeatjbT2OO pic.twitter.com/ZnyyRsXnQ0
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EC demands extra security as unrest grips Bangladesh afresh
Dhaka (PTI): The Election Commission (EC) has demanded extra security for its chief, other commissioners and officials as fresh unrest visibly gripped Bangladesh after gunmen shot an upcoming parliamentary polls candidate and frontline leader of last year's violent street movement dubbed 'July Uprising'.
"The EC has written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) urging comprehensive security arrangements for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Election Commissioners (ECs), senior officials of the Election Commission Secretariat," the state-run BSS news agency reported on late Saturday.
The EC simultaneously sought the extra security for its field-level offices ahead of the 13th national election, as two of them came under attack in southeastern Lakshmipur and southwestern Pirojpur by unidentified miscreants after the announcement of the schedule for the upcoming polls on Thursday.
The commission demanded an additional escort vehicle for the CEC, while one such police escort with a vehicle was currently in place for him. It asked for round-the-clock police escorts for the four commissioners and the senior secretary.
The letter said the enhanced security measures were "urgent and necessary," while EC officials said their 10 regional offices, 64 district election offices and 522 sub-district level offices would store important documents and election materials.
The EC on Thursday said the upcoming parliamentary election would be held on February 12 next year, while a day later, Sharif Osman Hadi was shot from a close range in the head, critically wounding him, as he initiated his election campaign from a constituency in the capital.
Critically ill former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) simultaneously asked Muhammad Yunus' government to provide security for all candidates in the upcoming election after the attack on Hadi, who leads a radical right-wing cultural group called Inquiab Mancha.
"We demand that the real culprit be identified immediately and brought under the law, and we call upon this government to ensure the security of all candidates without delay," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.
Hadi was also a frontline leader of last year's student-led violent uprising that toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024.
His Inquilab Mancha was also at the forefront of a campaign to disband the Awami League, which the interim government complied with in May this year, disqualifying the party from contesting the polls.
The government on Saturday ordered a nationwide security clampdown called 'Operation Devil Hunt 2' amid escalated fears over the law and order situation and promised to issue firearms licenses for election candidates for their own security.
Home adviser (retd) Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the government had taken steps to ensure special security for the "frontline fighters" of the July Uprising and promised to issue firearms licenses for the election candidates.
He emphasised that the second phase of the 'Devil Hunt' was aimed at helping ensure public safety and combat the growing threat of illegal arms.
The operation was initially launched in February this year following protests over an attack on the private house of a former minister of the ousted government in the northern suburb of the capital, when it targeted alleged "henchmen" and supporters of the now disbanded Awami League.
