India coronavirus: Man charged over oxygen SOS for dying grandfather

[dalton99a]

1. Indian government orders crackdown on individuals and hospitals reporting shortages

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/27/indian-state-cracks-down-on-hospitals-flagging-oxygen-shortage

Indian state ‘cracks down’ on hospitals flagging oxygen shortage
Uttar Pradesh’s BJP government accused of ordering crackdown on individuals and hospitals reporting shortages, according to Indian media reports.
27 Apr 2021

The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India’s most populous Uttar Pradesh state has ordered a crackdown on individuals and hospitals reporting a shortage of medical oxygen or beds, according to Indian media reports.

Over the weekend, the northern state’s saffron-clad Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand Hindu monk known for his hate speech, threatened to invoke the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and the Gangster Act against anyone trying to spread fear and panic during the pandemic, local reports said.

He also said the property of “anti-social elements” spreading “rumours and propaganda on social media” should be seized – a measure earlier used by the state against criminals, but now becoming a regular threat under Adityanath’s government.

“There is no shortage of beds, oxygen and life-saving drugs in the state,” Adityanath said during a virtual news conference on Monday, claiming his government has “established 32 oxygen plants” in the state.