The oxygen plant at the Visvesaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Bhadravati has become operational and efforts will be made to enhance production capacity of the plant, Minister for Industries Jagadish Shettar has said.
The Minister visited the plant on Thursday along with Rural Development and Panhayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa and senior officers of the district.
The oxygen plant, which was operated by MSPL Ltd. with a memorandum of understanding with VISP, remained defunct for several months.
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Shivamogga district administration held talks with VISP and MSPL on restarting the plant as hospitals in the district required medical oxygen in view of increasing COVID-19 cases. VISP has a bottling unit with a capacity to fill 150 cylinders a day.
Mr. Shettar visited the oxygen plant and bottling unit. “As of now, 150 cylinders of medical oxygen will be supplied to Shivamogga hospitals daily. If additional compressors are installed, 400-500 cylinders can be supplied. The State government will take steps necessary to increase the plant’s oxygen production capacity,” he said.
Further, Mr. Shettar, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of arranging medical oxygen for hospitals, said that Jindal Industries in Ballari was generating 500 tonnes of oxygen a day. The State government has appealed to the company to increase it to 1,000 tonnes, considering the increasing demand. The company has responded positively to the request, he added.
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Mr. Eshwarappa said that the district administration has been making all efforts to provide all essential facilities for COVID-19 patients in Shivamogga district.
Legislators B.K. Sangameshwara, Rudre Gowda, Zilla Panchayat CEO M.L. Vaishali, VISP Executive Director Surjit Mishra and others were present.