Chennai: On Thursday the first batch of medical grade Oxygen was dispatched from Sterlite Copper Plant in Tuticorin, which is owned by Vedanta Ltd. The copper plant which was shut down a couple of years ago was granted permission to only produce Oxygen due to its heightened demand as the cases Covid cases rose suddenly.
The approval for a period of four months was given by the then AIADMK government on April 26th after an all-party meeting.
"One of our oxygen plants has commenced production from May 12th. The first tanker carrying 4.8 tonnes of liquid oxygen is going to Tirunelveli-Tuticorin," the company said in a statement on Thursday reported PTI.
The producers have said the oxygen supplied by Sterlite is of 98.6% 'purity' and has the necessary certifications.
Sterlite Copper CEO, Pankaj Kumar was quoted by PTI as saying, "my team members and I are honoured that our facility and efforts are being directly put into helping save lives."
"We promise to make every possible effort to ensure that there is continuous production of oxygen from our plant to mitigate this crisis," he added.
The company further expressed its gratitude to the Supreme Court, central and state governments and to the local administration for providing the necessary approvals in an expedited manner, the company said.
Last month, the Supreme Court gave its approval to Vedanta to operate the oxygen production. Justice DY Chandrachud, "The plant shall be operated & only produce oxygen & for no other purpose".
The unit was sealed by the state government in May 2018, days after 13 agitators were killed in police firing during a violent anti-Sterlite protest in the southern district.