Union railways minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, accusing him of playing “petty politics” over availability of oxygen cylinders in the days of surging pandemic.
”Maharashtra is suffering from an inept and corrupt government and the Centre is doing its best for the people. People of Maharashtra are following ‘Majha Kutumb, Majhi Javabadari’ dutifully. It is time the CM (chief minister) also follows his duties in the spirit of ‘Majha Rajya, Majhi Javabadari’,” the commerce and industry minister said.
He said that Maharashtra received the highest quantity of oxygen across the country and the central government is in touch with state governments to “assess their needs and help them in best possible manner”.
“GoI, with all stakeholders, is ensuring maximum oxygen production in India. We are currently producing 110% of Oxygen generating capacity and diverting all available Oxygen from industrial use to medical use,” Goyal tweeted while attacking the Maharashtra government.
Goyal’s sharp remarks came on the heels of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s repeated attempts to hold the centre responsible for not providing enough oxygen to Maharashtra to treat the rising number of critical coronavirus patients
Earlier, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi and informed him about the requirement of medical oxygen in the state. He also informed about hurdles their government was facing during the transportation of liquid medical oxygen from neighbouring states, Thackeray had sought permission under the National Disaster Management Act to airlift oxygen from steel plants in eastern and southern parts of the country.
However, the centre assured the states and union territories that no restrictions shall be imposed on oxygen manufacturers and suppliers to limit the oxygen supplies only to the states in which they are located and there will be free movement of oxygen carrying vehicles into the cities, without any restriction of timing.
On Friday, Maharashtra saw the highest daily surge of 63,729 new cases while 398 succumbed to the infection.
