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Journalism of Courage
The Delhi government has submitted before the Delhi High Court that the numbers of N-95 masks and PPE kits, which the Centre says it has provided to the capital, does not match with the logbook of their Department of Health’s storage branch.
“It is respectfully submitted that the information provided by the Government of India that 3,79,429 N-95 masks and 1,16,890 PPE (personal protective equipment) kits have been supplied to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) does not match with the logbook of the storage branch of the Department of Health (Delhi government),” said the Health Department in their status report filed through Delhi government’s Additional Standing Counsel Gautam Narayan.
The hearing was conducted before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad on Friday.
The bench was given details of items received by the GNCTD from the Government of India till May 5, 2020.
It said that they have received “coverall – 1,01,363; N-95 (masks) – 2,55,700; gloves (size 6.5) – 91,250; gloves (size 7) – 90,500; and goggles – 1,23,958”.
Components of PPE are goggles, face-shield, mask, gloves, coverall/gowns (with or without aprons), head cover and shoe cover, the bench was told.
Taking note of this, the bench ordered, “In view of the fact that there appears a mismatch in the inventory of the PPE kits, N-95 masks, gloves, etc between what the Union of India claims in its affidavit, have been supplied to the GNCTD, which the latter states it has not received to the said extent, it is deemed appropriate to direct both the departments to clarify the position by filing separate affidavits within five days.”
The bench listed the matter for further hearing on June 1.
The court was hearing a plea by petitioner Harnam Singh who, through his advocate Mehmood Pracha, sought directions that all sanitation workers on coronavirus duty be provided with proper PPEs and other protective gear like mask and gloves.
The Delhi government’s Department of Health and Family Welfare also apprised the court that “presently 2,263 sanitation workers are employed with the Department of Health, out of which 415 are employed on a regular basis while 1,848 are on outsource basis”.
Singh, a social activist, had first approached the Supreme Court, which had given him the liberty to move the High Court if he had any specific case on the issue.
The petitioner claimed that as the situation is worsening and sanitation workers are left exposed to Covid without adequate equipment, some of them have contracted the virus, exposing their families and community to the infection. It said that unlike doctors, who work in more controlled and sanitised environments, sanitation workers function in unhygienic conditions and run a higher risk of getting infected with the virus. To which, the Delhi government contended that it is not seeking to contest the present petition as an adversarial litigation.
They contended that the Department of Health is well aware of the risk involved in the line of duty of its employees, and is therefore taking all possible measures to ensure their safety and security.
