Steel Plant Employees Union urges Centre to take over oxygen plant in Visakhapatnam

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Steel Plant Employees Union, recognised union of VSP, has urged Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to take over the air separation plant-2, which is lying idle, from Air Liquid Holding of France and hand it over to the VSP to produce oxygen to meet the needs of people. 

In a letter written to the union minister, leaders of the union affiliated to CITU on Monday said in spite of stiff resistance from the trade unions, the then union government, in 2009, allowed the French company to make its investments to build, own and operate a plant to produce oxygen and nitrogen.

As per the MoU, the French company set up the separation units with a production capacity of 1700 tonnes per day out of which 100 tonnes will be liquid medical oxygen. However, it has not produced and supplied a single tonne of Oxygen and Nitrogen till date.