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Oxygen Supply Probe Stalled in Mumbai; Echoes of U.S. Pandemic Oversight Challenges
By Archyde News, April 8, 2025
Mumbai Commissioner Halts Prosecution in Oxygen Supply Case
Mumbai – In a progress mirroring concerns about pandemic-related accountability in the United States, the municipal commissioner of Mumbai has refused to sanction the prosecution of city officials implicated in an alleged oxygen supply scam during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.The decision, revealed to the bombay High Court on Tuesday, has raised questions about clarity and oversight in the allocation of vital resources during a public health crisis.
Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale reviewed an internal communication from BMC’s advocate, Joel Carlos, which detailed the commissioner’s rationale. According to the judges, the commissioner cited a lack of sufficient evidence against the accused officials.”From the said letter,it appears that the commissioner refused sanction for want of adequate evidence/material against the petitioners,” they stated.
This decision comes amidst a backdrop of increasing scrutiny of pandemic spending and resource management, both in India and the U.S. In the United States, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) was established to oversee the use of trillions of dollars in federal funds allocated for COVID-19 relief. The PRAC has faced its own challenges in accessing facts and holding individuals accountable,highlighting the complexities of investigating large-scale emergency responses.
Engineers Claim Good Faith; Multiple FIRs Under Investigation
The case originated from an FIR filed by the Nagpada police on November 22, 2023, prompted by allegations of irregularities in the supply of oxygen to civic-run hospitals between March 11, 2020, and May 5, 2022 – the height of the pandemic. The Municipal Engineers association,which filed a petition to quash the FIR,argues that the engineers involved were simply following protocol in proposing the installation of 16 oxygen generation plants across nine BMC hospitals. They maintain that all actions were taken in good faith, and the subsequent summons issued to several engineers have had a “chilling affect.”
Joel Carlos informed the court that the oxygen supply FIR is one of four such cases under investigation, the others concerning alleged irregularities in the supply of khichdi (a type of Indian dish), body bags, and Remdesivir injections. Sanction
