The Centre on Tuesday submitted its national plan for Covid-19 preparedness to the Supreme Court. The plan lists the central government’s plan for the distribution of essential supplies and services during the pandemic.
The national Covid plan, however, does not include microscopic details as to the day-to-day management of the issues arising out of different disasters, the Centre said.
In its affidavit, the Centre told the apex court that the national plan “designedly keeps the said aspects of executive decision making open in order to enable the government statutory functionaries and all stakeholders to take appropriate measures in dynamic and fast-developing situations such as the present pandemic”.
Taking the suo moto cognizance of the issues arising out of the Covid-19 outbreak in India, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to submit a national Covid plan listing details of its plans for production and distribution of oxygen, essential drugs, health care infrastructure and vaccines.
In the affidavit, the Centre has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were constantly working to scale up the production and distribution of oxygen in the country.
Steps such as giving industrial oxygen production plants license to produce medical-grade liquid oxygen are being taken. The availability of oxygen tankers is also being increased, the Centre told the SC.
The Centre told the SC that oxygen requirements in several states increased much faster than forecast.
“The sheer magnitude of this unprecedented surge itself bring with it certain inbuilt limitations in terms of available resources which need to be professionally augmented and utilised,” the affidavit said.
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