CJP orders government to fix oxygen cylinders price

• The Supreme Court has directed the government to fix the price of oxygen cylinders.
  
• The court orders the Ministry of Industry and Production to fix the price of the oxygen cylinder within two days.
  
• The apex court says a procedure should also be worked out to determine the price of oxygen cylinders.
  

The Supreme Court has directed the government to fix the price of oxygen cylinders, Geo News reported on Wednesday.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed, heard the coronavirus suo motu case in the Supreme Court during which the court ordered fixing the price of oxygen cylinders amid the worsening coronavirus situation in the country.

Read more: CM Murad Ali Shah says Sindh govt will revive PSM oxygen plant for Rs1 billion

In the coronavirus suo motu notice case, the Ministry of Industry and Production was directed to fix the price of the oxygen cylinder within two days.

The apex court said that a procedure should also be worked out to determine the price of oxygen cylinders.

Meanwhile, Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) said that the suppliers were charging exorbitant rates as the price for oxygen cylinders was not fixed.

Supreme Court declares NDMA report on coronavirus 'unsatisfactory'

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared a report submitted by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as “unsatisfactory” while hearing a suo motu case on the coronavirus situation in the country.

CJP Gulzar, who is heading the bench hearing the suo motu case, remarked that all affairs of the disaster management authority were “messed up”.

He said that the government set up an N-95 factory for a private company.

Read more: Punjab faces shortage of coronavirus test kits

“All the machinery and duties for the factory were paid in cash, the machinery was ordered by a chartered plane and the payment was made in cash,” observed the CJP. He also questioned why the Pakistani embassy in China was used for buying the equipment.

“Is the Pakistani embassy in China used for buying [material]?” asked CJP Gulzar. He also remarked that the chartered plane was also arranged via the embassy.

“Does the Pakistani envoy in China do any diplomatic work or does he only buy things? This is a very dire situation,” observed the top judge of the country.

CJP slams Sindh government over misuse of funds

Apart from the NDMA, the Sindh government also drew the ire of the chief justice for not delivering despite the allocation of huge development funds. He remarked that the provincial government had allocated huge sums of money towards the education, health and other sectors.

“Sindh should have become Paris with the amount Sindh government [reports to have] spent,” Justice Gulzar told the additional advocate general of the province.

The CJP observed that the Murad Ali Shah-led government in Sindh had stated that $2,006 million were spent on education in 2013 and 2017. He added that with this amount “Sindh’s education institutes should have turned into Harvard”.

Read more: How bad are the coronavirus SOP violations in Sindh?

“Schools in Sindh should have turned into palaces and the literacy rate should have been 100% but all the money goes in salaries,” said the CJP.

The CJP was also irked by advocate general Sindh’s absence from the court. He directed the lawyer to submit a written reply on “non-appearance within 15 days”.

CJP questions spread of COVID-19 in KP

While speaking to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general, CJP Gulzar said that as per the report submitted, the positivity rate of the province has declined and wondered if the province was less affected by the third wave of COVID-19.

However, KP Advocate General Shumail Butt told the CJP that the province was, in fact, badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more: Pakistan reports over 4,000 new infections during past 24 hours

“In some cities the positivity ratio has climbed to 40% which is why there has been a complete lockdown in some cities of the province,” Butt told the bench. However, he also told the court that luckily in the last three, four days the positivity rate had declined.

The CJP, after reviewing the reports, adjourned the hearing of the case for a month.

'PSM oxygen plant approx 40 years old'

He also said that the Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM)'s oxygen plant is more or less 40 years old. 

"It will cost Rs 1 billion to activate the oxygen plant," he noted, adding that the court will be provided with a detailed report related to the availability of oxygen in the country.

The Ministry of Industries and Production had earlier decided to assess the gas production plant and see whether it can be revived to meet the demand for oxygen, as cases of the coronavirus continue to surge in Pakistan. 

A delegation of technical experts visited the PSM and explored the possibilities of putting the plant to use to produce more oxygen.

Read more: Pakistan to receive vaccine doses via COVAX programme this week: sources

The PSM plant has the capacity to produce 15,200 cubic metres of gas per hour.

Experts believe it will not be necessary to activate the main plant of the steel mills to run the oxygen plant. In addition, oxygen cylinders can also be manufactured at the steel mills, if the need arises.

A day earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had informed doctors that the provincial government would “intervene” and operationalise the oxygen plants at the Pakistan Steel Mill located in Karachi for Rs1 billion.

“We are passing through a very serious situation; therefore, we have to be prepared to face any emergency,” CM Murad had said while speaking to leading doctors at the CM House on Tuesday.