Vedanta opposes SC proposal for oxygen plant to be operated by Tamil Nadu government

Vedanta has opposed a proposal by the Supreme Court for the mining company’s oxygen plant at Thoothukudi to be operated by the Tamil Nadu government in view of the prevailing COVID-19 crisis and shortage of medical oxygen across the country.

The company said the Tamil Nadu government does not have the technical expertise and financial ability to run the oxygen plant. “It is not practically possible or advisable to let any inexperienced personnel to operate the plant. Keeping in mind the aforesaid, it is just beyond the competency and financial ability of the government to run this oxygen plant,” Vedanta said in an additional affidavit.

The oxygen plant requires a total man power of 45 trained personnel to operate it at its full capacity, and that the plant can be operated only by engineers having the expert domain knowledge and by those who are competent and trained over a period of time with an average experience of at least 10 years.

The affidavit stated that running of the oxygen plant by the state government is likely to pose grave danger not only to the assets but to the personnel deployed for operation, as the operation critically involves the operation of high pressure vessels, heavy duty compressors, high voltage equipment and proprietary control systems. It further said that there is a high probability that if untrained personnel were to operate the plant, the quality of oxygen produce can be substandard and may not be safe for use.

Also Read: ECI responsible for spreading COVID-19, murder charges should be imposed: Madras High Court

On April 23, the Supreme Court had asked the state government to explore the option of taking over Vedanta’s plant and manufacturing oxygen. This came about after the mining company itself approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to reopen the oxygen plant as it can produce oxygen to cater to COVID-19 patients.

However, the state government had opposed the move citing law and order problems and backlash from the public as the plant was shut down by the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board in 2019 because of violations of environmental laws.