Defunct oxygen plant at Gudur revived

Nellore: A four-tonne-capacity defunct oxygen plant at Gudur is now ready to produce around 440 cylinders of oxygen per day giving a big respite to the district administration which has been under tremendous pressure for the supply of oxygen.

A team of technicians from Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, and local revenue officials headed by Sub Collector R Gopala Krishna worked for more than five days to restore the defunct oxygen plant at Chillakur in Gudur by Friday night.

Lekharaju Balasubrahmanyam started an Air Separation Unit, M/s Krishna Teja Air Products, at Boodanam in Chillakur Mandal in 2011 with a capacity of 4 tonnes of oxygen. It can be filled into 440 cylinders of 10-litre capacity.

The quantity of oxygen can address the needs of private hospitals involved in Covid treatment in the district. The unit was closed subsequently due to financial issues and lack of round-the-clock power facility.

Now it has been revived with the active involvement of the district administration. A local donor and aqua farmer donated Rs 6 lakh for reopening the unit.

Officials sought the help of Navy and a team led by Commandant Dipayan Kumar and others reached Chillakur and rectified the technical problems for the generation of oxygen. Many sub-teams divided work and completed the repairs by Friday midnight.

The Control Checking Team has been invited to verify the works taken up by the teams from the Navy and give final nod for production.

Officials say the revival of the defunct unit is a big relief to the district who are facing a difficult situation for oxygen after a reduction in daily quota from Chennai since May 2.

The Gudur Sub Collector said this unit will bridge the gap of oxygen in the district. He also said the APSPDCL has waived outstanding power dues to the extent of nearly Rs 3 crore paving way for the restoration