Tamil Nadu: Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi resumes production of oxygen amid rising demand

The Sterlite plant at Vedanta's Sterlite factory in Thoothukudi is set to resume production of oxygen from Wednesday after the plant had been shut down for a few days due to technical issues.

An official release of Vedanta read, "We are glad to share that the disruption in the oxygen plant has been rectified, and have now restarted production. The oxygen generated is being stored at our onsite facilities and will be distributed as per the directions of the State government and concerned nodal officers."

Last month, The Supreme Court had permitted Vedanta to reopen the Oxygen-production unit on a standalone basis owing to the spike in demand for medical oxygen across the country amid rising COVID cases. Following this, the Tamil Nadu government had named a seven-member Monitoring Committee for supervising the reopening of the oxygen plants at Vedanta's Sterlite factory in Thoothukudi. 

As per the state government order in April, It read, " the Vedanta plant will function as per directions issued by the Monitoring Committee and in compliance with environmental and safety norms. The Committee will also determine the number of people allowed inside the factory premises solely for managing and conducting the production of oxygen. The Monitoring Committee will also engage with the local residents to address grievances related to the nature of the functioning of the plant. A safety audit will also be conducted before the commencement of operations."

In April, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal had pledged Rs. 150 Cr to help the country in its fight against the rapidly spreading second wave of COVID-19.

COVID In India

India saw a record of 4,529 fatalities due to coronavirus in a single day pushing the COVID-19 death toll to 2,83,248, while 2,67,334 fresh infections were recorded taking the total tally of cases to 2,54,96,330, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The active cases have further reduced to 32,26,719 comprising 12.66 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 86.23 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.