Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said thousands of people lost their lives due to shortage of oxygen during the second wave of the pandemic in the national Capital and the Centre rejected the proposal of the Delhi Government to form a panel to investigate the deaths.

Addressing the media, Sisodia said: “The Delhi Government constituted a committee to investigate deaths caused by lack of oxygen with an aim to give an assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the aggrieved families but the Centre rejected the formation of this committee through an order by the Lieutenant-Governor.

They were afraid that their oxygen mismanagement and the truth of their inefficiency would become public knowledge through this committee.”

Sisodia added, “During the second Covid-19 wave, there was panic in the whole country due to the lack of oxygen. People were dying and all this was the result of the failed management system of the Central Government. Instead of taking responsibility, the Central Government shamelessly lied that there have been no deaths due to lack of oxygen in the entire country in the Parliament.”

The Deputy Chief Minister also charged the Centre with trying to “hide its fault” and alleged that its “mismanagement” and change in oxygen distribution policy after April 13 caused the shortage of the life-saving gas in hospitals across the country, leading to a “disaster.”

Sisodia also said that the Kejriwal Government is still ready for an independent audit of each death due to oxygen shortage if the Centre allows it to form the committee, he added.