Working to ramp up telenetwork to deal with Covid crisis, Delhi govt tells HC

“They (officers) should be assigned some job. Just because there is a lockdown, they are sitting at home and doing nothing; that should not be. Maybe some of them have to come and some of them can work from home but some duty should be assigned to all of them,” said the division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli.

The court also suggested that the state can rope in LPG cylinder distributors for delivery of oxygen cylinders since they have infrastructure such as vans. The government said they are working on an online portal for delivery of oxygen cylinders. It also said they are working on the 1031 helpline and the cylinder bank where people can voluntarily surrender them.

It also asked the state government about engagement of retired doctors who are willing to offer their services and said the state cannot delay it anymore. The bench also said people have to be made aware about the infection.

“Everyday there are people who do not know what to do and are not taking the right medicines and are falling prey… thinking the fever is gone,” observed the court, “People are dying at home,” continued the court.

During the hearing, the court also said that even in the time of crisis people “unfortunately” are not coming together. “That is why we find so much black marketing, otherwise whose conscience would allow hoarding of oxygen, medication. Our moral fabric has been dismembered to a great extent, and we can see the effects of that,” the bench observed.