Jajpur: In view of the surge of COVID-19 cases in Odisha, residents of Jajpur district demanded Friday the revival of closed oxygen- producing plants. They said they want to ensure so that oxygen shortage can be avoided in future.
Odisha has not yet faced any shortage of medical oxygen and in fact is supplying the product to other states. Residents are keen to find out regarding the plans the Odisha government has to revive plants that produce oxygen but have gone defunct in the district.
Sources said Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) is the only nationalised enterprise producing oxygen in the district. It earlier had a plant in the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex (KIC). However, the plant has become non-functional since March 30, 2020.
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Some companies in the industrial complex produce oxygen to meet their own in-house requirements. The NINL-owned plant here was set up in 2012 with a production capacity of 418 tonne at an estimated cost of over Rs 300 crore. In the MoU the company had signed with the Odisha government it was agreed to that the company will provide five per cent of its total oxygen production to government-run hospitals. However, the supply has stopped as production stopped.
PNN