Efforts on to revive two oxygen plants in Nellore

Nellore: With supplies unlike to fully meet the rapidly growing demand for oxygen from Covid patients anytime soon, officials have taken up revival of the two sick oxygen production units in the district on a war-footing.

Officials are trying to ensure that Krishna Teja Air Products located at Budanam in Chillakur mandal is brought back on stream and starts filling up cylinders from Saturday.

District Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu told this newspaper that they waived dues pertaining to electricity connection for the unit which is capable of producing 4 tonnes of oxygen per day.

He said they are taking the help of Commandant Dipayan Kumar and his team from the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam to help resume production after the plant managers expressed helplessness to mobilise technicians in such a short notice to resume operations.

The Dockyard team was deputed to Nellore to assist the administration in operating the oxygen plants in major hospitals without a break, the Collector informed. Once the unit is revived, 440 cylinders of 10 liters capacity each can be filled a day and it would help meet the needs of all the small empanelled Covid hospitals in the district.

The Collector also said they are also looking at alternative options to supply 10 tonnes of oxygen to the 3 Nellore-based gas filling agencies which are supplying to individuals and some hospitals. “Hitherto, the agencies were securing oxygen from Chennai but the supplies were  suspended from May 2, 2021, after the central government took control of the distribution of oxygen,” Chakradhar Babu informed.

He opined that all the ordeals for oxygen would come to an end in the district if they can revive another oxygen plant with 80 tonnes capacity, SBQ Steels, in Chillakur mandal. It can produce 70 per cent of oxygen in the form of gas and 30 per cent in the form of liquid. The officials have intensified their efforts to bring it into operation at the earliest.